The Palestinian militant group Hamas will likely replace Yahya Sinwar with a new political leader based outside Gaza while his brother - Mohammad Sinwar - is expected to assume a bigger role directing the war against Israel in the territory, experts say.
In its leadership deliberations, Hamas must consider not only the preferences of its main backer - Iran - but also the interests of the Gulf Arab state of Qatar, where all the main candidates to take over as politburo chief currently reside.
Sinwar, a mastermind of the Oct 7, 2023 attack that ignited the devastating Gaza war, was killed by Israeli forces in a gunbattle on Oct 17 -- the second time in less than three months that Hamas has lost its top leader.
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A US judge on Oct 18 made public more evidence collected by prosecutors in the federal criminal case accusing former US President Donald Trump of attempting to overturn his defeat in the 2020 election.
The hundreds of pages, many of which were blanked out and marked “sealed,” include material referenced in a sweeping court filing from Special Counsel Jack Smith made public earlier this month that argued that Trump, the Republican presidential candidate in this year’s election, is not immune from the remaining allegations in the case.
The filings unsealed on Oct 18 included excerpts of interviews conducted by Congress’s official probe into the Jan 6, 2021, assault on the US Capitol by Trump’s supporters.
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A UK animal rights activist who caused thousands of pounds’ worth of damage to a fountain in front of Buckingham Palace was on Oct 18 handed an 18-month jail sentence and warned he faced “severe” punishment if he reoffended.
The sentencing of “seasoned protester” Louis McKechnie, 23, follows a toughening of the sentences meted out to direct action protesters.
The UK has seen a string of headline-grabbing stunts over recent years, from massive traffic disruption caused by protesters scaling bridges or motorway gantries, to attacks on art works or historic sites.
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Facebook owner Meta said on Oct 18 it was releasing a batch of new AI models from its research division, including a “Self-Taught Evaluator” that may offer a path toward less human involvement in the AI development process.
The release follows Meta’s introduction of the tool in an August paper, which detailed how it relies upon the same “chain of thought” technique used by OpenAI’s recently released o1 models to get it to make reliable judgments about models’ responses.
That technique involves breaking down complex problems into smaller logical steps and appears to improve the accuracy of responses on challenging problems in subjects like science, coding and math.
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Carlos Sainz topped the times ahead of team-mate Charles Leclerc as Ferrari set the pace ahead of title contenders Max Verstappen and Lando Norris in Oct 18’s opening practice at the United States Grand Prix.
Sainz clocked a fastest lap in one minute and 33.602 seconds to beat Leclerc by 0.021 seconds with three-time champion and series leader Verstappen of Red Bull adrift by two-tenths.
Norris and his McLaren team-mate Oscar Piastri were fourth and fifth ahead of seven-time champion Lewis Hamilton and his Mercedes team-mate George Russell with Kevin Magnussen eighth on his return for Haas.
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