Friday Briefing: A vote on the cease-fire deal

Plus, David Lynch dies at 78.

View in browser|nytimes.com January 17, 2025 By Natasha Frost Good morning. We're covering the latest from the Gaza cease-fire deal and a British investigation into "grooming gangs." Plus: Remembering David Lynch. People walk through the rubble of buildings hit in Israeli strikes in the northern Gaza Strip. Omar Al-Qattaa/Agence France-Presse — Getty Images A vote on the Gaza cease-fire deal is set for today Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu of Israeli has ordered a meeting of Israel's political security cabinet for later today to approve the Gaza cease-fire deal, after Israeli and Hamas negotiators worked out their remaining differences. A vote scheduled for yesterday was delayed by last-minute disputes with Hamas and rifts that emerged inside Netanyahu's governing coalition. Itamar Ben-Gvir, Israel's hard-line national security minister, threatened to remove his party from the coalition if the cabinet voted to approve the provisional deal. The move could threaten Netanyahu's hold on power but is unlikely to stop the deal. He would still command a majority of 62 seats in the 120-member Parliament, and opposition lawmakers have pledged to support the push for a cease-fire if more hard-line allies leave the coalition. Read more about the political crisis facing Netanyahu. The prime minister's office said that the families of hostages had been informed of the agreement and that the government authority responsible for the hostages had been instructed to prepare for their return to Israel. Details: The cease-fire would start with a six-week phase involving the release of 33 hostages and hundreds of Palestinian prisoners, as well as the entry into Gaza each day of 600 trucks carrying humanitarian relief, according to a copy of the agreement. On the ground: Many Gazans reacted to the prospect of a cease-fire with wary hope, tempered by sadness. "How can we ever rebuild?" one said. "Where will we even begin?" Recent Israeli attacks in the territory killed at least 81 people and injured nearly 200 others, according to Gaza's health ministry, which does not distinguish between combatants and civilians. Yvette Cooper, Britain's home secretary, said a new rapid audit would look at the "current scale and nature of gang-based exploitation across the country." Pool photo by Chris Ratcliffe The U.K. opens a new inquiry into grooming gangs The British government has announced new investigations into child sexual exploitation and abuse, less than a month after Elon Musk, the billionaire tech mogul, revived the issue in a series of vitriolic posts on X. Speaking in Parliament, Yvette Cooper, the home secretary, said she had commissioned a rapid three-month audit into the "current scale and nature of gang-based exploitation across the country" that would examine data on the perpetrators' ethnicity. She also said that the government would support and help pay for as many as five local inquiries into so-called grooming gangs — groups of men found to have sexually exploited thousands of girls in Britain in the 2000s and early 2010s. Most of the perpetrators were of British Pakistani heritage. Context: Across a number of towns and cities, groups of men exploited, assaulted and raped girls, some as young as 11 and mostly white. Investigations found that the police and social services often failed victims and parents who asked for help. Sudanese Armed Forces during a demonstration in Omdurman last year. Ivor Prickett for The New York Times Sudan's military used chemical weapons twice On two separate occasions, Sudan's military has used chemical weapons against the paramilitary group it is battling for control of the country, U.S. officials said yesterday. The military used the weapons against members of the Rapid Support Forces in remote areas, but officials worry the weapons could soon be used in the capital, Khartoum. The U.S. is preparing to announce sanctions against the head of Sudan's military for documented atrocities by his troops, including the indiscriminate bombing of civilians and the use of starvation as a weapon of war. Background: The war has created what is by many measures the world's worst humanitarian crisis, with up to 150,000 people killed, more than 11 million displaced and now the world's worst famine in decades. MORE TOP NEWS Hugh Hastings/Getty Images Britain: A report from a British nursing union described an overcrowding crisis that nurses said had led to a collapse in care across the country's National Health Service. China: The Chinese government is increasing its efforts to root out troublemakers and suppress social unrest after a string of attacks in the country. France: Hundreds of mourners paid their final respects to Jean-Marie Le Pen, the architect of the country's modern far-right movement. Diplomacy: Prime Minister Keir Starmer of Britain met with President Volodymyr Zelensky of Ukraine in Kyiv, in a show of solidarity. Canada: The government is preparing billions of dollars' worth of retaliatory measures on U.S. exports if President-elect Donald Trump imposes tariffs on Canadian goods. Tech: Before a Supreme Court ruling that could uphold a coming ban on TikTok, U.S. users are mocking national security concerns about the Chinese-owned app. Illness: Certain cancers are turning up more often in younger women, according to a new report, even as more Americans survive the disease overall. Gaming: Nintendo announced that the Switch 2, a successor to its popular Switch console, would be released this year. SPORTS NEWS Tennis: See the latest upsets and updates from the Australian Open. Golf: LIV Golf will move to Fox Sports networks in 2025 as part of a multiyear media rights deal, potentially broadening the tournament's audience by a wide margin. Soccer: Mikel Arteta says Arsenal is "actively looking" to make signings in January. M.M.A.: The UFC star Conor McGregor was accused of sexually assaulting a woman in 2023 after an N.B.A. Finals game, according to a lawsuit. MORNING READ Noriko Hayashi for The New York Times Before there was Marie Kondo, there was Hideko Yamashita, Japan's original guru of streamlining spaces and possessions. Yamashita never reached Kondo's level of global fame, but in Japan she is widely credited with kicking off the modern decluttering movement. CONVERSATION STARTERS The romance of caregiving: Shane Burcaw, who has spinal muscular atrophy, and his wife, who is not disabled, examine "interabled" relationships in a new essay collection. Good things, small packages: Amid rising rents, a project manager bought a tiny apartment in Almaty, Kazakhstan's largest city, and leaned in on the design. Architectural loss: More than 30 significant and cherished sites have been lost to the Los Angeles wildfires. An unlikely star: At 79, Larry Pennington has become an overnight style sensation. ARTS AND IDEAS Sara Hirakawa for The New York Times Remembering David Lynch David Lynch, a painter turned avant-garde filmmaker, has died at 78. His family announced the death on social media but provided no details. Lynch announced last year that he had developed emphysema after years of smoking, and that as a result any subsequent films would be directed remotely. As a filmmaker, Lynch was a visionary. His florid style and unnerving perspective emerged full-blown in his first feature, the cult film "Eraserhead," and remained consistent through the erotic thriller "Blue Velvet," the network TV series "Twin Peaks," his widely acknowledged masterpiece "Mulholland Drive" and his enigmatic last feature, "Inland Empire." His work was so distinctive that, like Franz Kafka or Frank Capra before him, his name became an adjective. The Lynchian "is at once easy to recognize and hard to define," one scholar wrote. Read our obituary. An appraisal: "A place of beauty and violence, crowded with animistic spirits that predate political borders and even human settlement." Read our critic's take on "Twin Peaks." Plaudits: Filmmakers, collaborators and others paid tribute to Lynch's visionary work and singular voice. We hope you've enjoyed this newsletter, which is made possible through subscriber support. Subscribe to The New York Times. RECOMMENDATIONS Armando Rafael for The New York Times Cook: Feeling worn down? This chicken and lentil soup can pick you back up. Read: The singer and songwriter Neko Case shares hard truths in her new memoir. Wear: Our critic explains how to dress both conservatively and stylishly. Play the Spelling Bee. And here are today's Mini Crossword and Wordle. You can find all our puzzles here. That's it for today's briefing. And a programming note: I'm on vacation next week, but you'll be in my colleagues' capable hands. Until next time. — Natasha Reach Natasha and the team at briefing@nytimes.com. Need help? Review our newsletter help page or contact us for assistance. You received this email because you signed up for Morning Briefing: Europe Edition from The New York Times. To stop receiving Morning Briefing: Europe Edition, unsubscribe. To opt out of other promotional emails from The Times, including those regarding The Athletic, manage your email settings. 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