The release of hostages as part of a deal between Israel and Hamas is expected to begin today. Seasonal hiring is slowing at some major retailers. And another Mississippi family says their loved one was killed and buried without their knowledge.
Here's what to know today.
Temporary cease-fire takes effect ahead of expected release of hostages
The first pause in fighting since the Israel-Hamas war erupted on Oct. 7 has begun, paving the way for the release of 13 hostages from Gaza this morning in exchange for Palestinian prisoners in Israeli jails. The breakthrough follows weeks of “extremely excruciating” negotiations brokered by the U.S., Qatar and Egypt for the deal featuring a four-day truce, the release of at least 50 hostages from Gaza and 150 Palestinians from Israel.
The negotiations, while ultimately successful, revealed the vast challenges that remain in freeing all of the roughly 240 captives. Throughout the talks, Hamas officials maintained that they had taken about 70 Israeli soldiers and 50 women and children captive, according to a diplomat in the region with knowledge of the negotiations. Officials from the militant group said the whereabouts of as many as 100 other captives are unknown but they are pursuing leads.
The final agreement — the outlines of which had been on the table for weeks — would not have been accepted by Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu without enormous pressure from President Joe Biden, according to a senior Israeli government official. “This deal was a Biden deal, not a Netanyahu deal,” the official said.
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More on the Israel-Hamas war
- How Students for Justice in Palestine, a network of campus groups that is affiliated with the national wing but operates autonomously, became a national lightning rod.
- The hostage deal exposed divisions in Israel over how to balance the country’s two stated war goals.
Oscar Pistorius to be freed on parole 10 years after murdering his girlfriend
Oscar Pistorius, the South African Paralympian who murdered his girlfriend Reeva Steenkamp on Valentine’s Day 10 years ago, was granted parole at a hearing on Friday and will be released next year.
A double amputee sprinter known as the “Blade Runner” for his prosthetic legs, Pistorius, 37, was convicted of fatally shooting Steenkamp four times through a locked bathroom door at his home in Pretoria in 2013.
Pistorius was told at a hearing in South Africa’s administrative capital where he has been held, that he will be released on Jan. 5, 2024.
A slowdown in holiday hiring
Last year, Walmart said it hired 40,000 seasonal workers to handle the holiday shopping influx. This year, the retailer is planning to offer extra hours to its existing employees and hire on a case-by-case basis at stores, a spokesperson said. Meanwhile, several other major employers including the U.S. Postal Service and Macy’s have announced plans to take on fewer seasonal workers than last year. But there is one company bucking the hiring trend.
The slowdown in hiring fits with a larger cooling in the labor market and overall uncertainty about consumer spending amid high interest rates, persistent inflation and other factors.
Sean ‘Diddy’ Combs accused of sexual assault in new lawsuit
A lawsuit filed in the New York Supreme Court alleges music mogul and rapper Sean “Diddy” Combs drugged a woman, sexually assaulted her and recorded the assault without her knowledge when she was a college student in 1991. The woman also claims in the lawsuit that a member of a popular ‘90s R&B group saw a recording of the assault.
It's the third suit in the last week filed against Combs or one of his companies that alleges sexual abuse by him or someone associated with him. Thursday’s suit was also filed one day before the expiration of the New York Adult Survivors Act, which allows adult sexual assault survivors one year to sue regardless of when the original statute of limitations expired, leading to lawsuits against high-profile figures, including New York City Mayor Eric Adams.
Politics in Brief
Biden’s Thanksgiving remarks: President Joe Biden called upon a deeply divided U.S. to “stop the rancor” and unite in addressing the problems the nation confronts.
Trump civil fraud trial: Donald Trump renewed his attacks on the judge overseeing his civil fraud trial in New York and the judge’s law clerk, baselessly accusing them of political bias in a Thanksgiving Day social media post.
Staff Pick: Another man buried without his family’s knowledge
During my early reporting on Dexter Wade, my colleague Bracey Harris shared a Facebook post by a woman who said her brother had been killed and buried without anyone telling her family. This was the first sign that there was another family experiencing the same thing.
That family was Marrio Moore’s. Over the next few weeks, I spoke to several members of his family and collected records about his life, death and pauper’s burial, which happened on the same day as Wade’s. Their story is just as troubling. — Jon Schuppe, enterprise reporter
In Case You Missed It
Hospitals in northern China appear to be “overwhelmed with sick children” as the country grapples with a surge in respiratory illnesses and clusters of pneumonia.
A 30-year-old Alabama priest who fled to Italy with a teen he later married is expected to be defrocked.
Netflix’s “Squid Game: The Challenge” turns the dystopian drama into a real-life competition (without the death). Critics are calling out its irony.
Select: Online Shopping, Simplified
It’s Black Friday — 130.7 million people are expected to shop today, according to the National Retail Federation, with another 51.3 million buying through Cyber Monday.
So NBC Select’s shopping editors are hunting the best Black Friday deals on everything from tech and TVs, to vacuums and home gadgets to great finds under $100 — all updated in real time, all weekend.
Here’s what to shop when, and what kinds of discounts to expect, according to Adobe Analytics:
- Black Friday, Nov. 24: The best day to find TV deals, with discounts up to 22%.
- Saturday, Nov. 25: Look for top deals on computers.
- Sunday, Nov. 26: Stock up on toys and apparel, with discounts up to 35% and 25%, respectively.
- Cyber Monday, Nov. 27: Shop electronics, with discounts up to 30%.
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