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Israeli military says it's surrounded the home of architect of the Oct. 7 Hamas attack

Israeli military forces have reportedly made significant inroads into Khan Younis, the largest urban area in the southern part of the Gaza Strip. Recent reports indicate that as of last evening, Israeli troops had successfully surrounded the residence of Yahya Sinwar. Sinwar is recognized as a key leader of Hamas in Gaza and is believed to have been instrumental in orchestrating the attack on October 7, which resulted in the tragic loss of approximately 1,200 civilians, along with multiple incidents of sexual violence.

The current whereabouts of Sinwar remains uncertain. There is speculation that he might have fled to the extensive underground tunnels used by Hamas, though this has not been confirmed. Sinwar is known for his direct involvement in ground operations, while Hamas's leadership also includes Mohammed Deif, who is in charge of military operations but is currently unlocated, and Ismail Haniyeh, the political leader residing in Qatar.

The ongoing conflict has had a devastating impact on the Gaza Strip's population. Nearly 2 million residents of Gaza, which accounts for almost the entire population of the area, have been displaced. They have sought refuge in various camps spread throughout the central and southern parts of Gaza, which spans an area of about 90 square miles. Recent revelations by Israeli authorities suggest that Hamas has been launching rockets from zones that were designated for humanitarian aid, further complicating the crisis and endangering the safety of Palestinians who are trying to escape the conflict.

The toll of the conflict in Gaza is staggering, with reports indicating that over 17,000 Palestinians have lost their lives, though it is not clear if this number includes Hamas fighters. In addition, there are still 140 Israelis being held captive following the initial attack by Hamas.

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Squid Game: The Challenge crowns first winner

Drawing inspiration from the Korean dystopian drama "Squid Game," participants engaged in iconic challenges featured in the show.

The winning amount of $4.56 million (£3.66 million) is believed to be the largest cash reward ever offered in reality television history.

One of the notable challenges was "Green Light, Red Light," where contestants had to rush towards a line while a giant doll resembling a girl sang. The moment the singing ceased, players had to stop immediately, or they faced elimination. In the original show, characters were shot for failing, but in this reality show adaptation, radio-controlled exploding dye packs were used to signify a player's loss.

The final contenders in the series were Sam Wells (Player 016), Mai Whelan (Player 287), and Phill Cain (Player 451). They competed in the last episode, which was recently broadcast on Netflix.

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Meta’s new AI image generator was trained on 1.1 billion Instagram and Facebook photos

On Wednesday, Meta unveiled a new, free AI image-generation platform called "Imagine with Meta AI." This online tool is powered by Meta's Emu image-synthesis model, which was developed using 1.1 billion images that are publicly accessible on Facebook and Instagram. This advanced technology enables users to create unique images from textual descriptions. Before this launch, Meta's image-generation capabilities, leveraging the same data, were integrated only within their messaging and social media applications, including Instagram.

For those active on Facebook or Instagram, there's a high chance that your images, or ones you captured, played a part in training the Emu model. This brings a fresh perspective to the adage, "If you're not paying for the product, you are the product." However, considering the vast volume of images on Instagram—with over 95 million photos uploaded daily as of 2016—the collection of images used to train Meta's AI represents just a fraction of the total content available on the platform.

Meta has stated that it exclusively utilizes publicly shared images for training its AI models. Therefore, by setting your Instagram or Facebook photos to private, you can opt out of having your images used in the development of future AI models by the company, unless Meta decides to alter this policy in the future.

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