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Iran already has enough uranium enriched to up to 60%, if enriched further, to make three nuclear bombs, according to the International Atomic Energy Agency's theoretical definition, and more at lower enrichment levels. Iran denies seeking nuclear weapons.

Iran is enriching to up to 60%, close to the roughly 90% that is weapons grade, at its Pilot Fuel Enrichment Plant (PFEP) in its sprawling Natanz complex and at its Fordow Fuel Enrichment Plant (FFEP), which is dug into a mountain.

"The Agency confirms that, since the end of November 2023, the rate at which Iran has been producing uranium enriched up to 60% U-235 at these two facilities combined has increased to approximately 9 kg per month," the report to member states said.

Critical mass for U-235 is 56kg, and fuel grade Uranium is between 3-5%.

There are no legitimate non-weapons applications of Uranium enriched above 20%.

This talk is sort of a sequel to “Dancing Links”, the Christmas Lecture of 2018, because there have been surprising new developments since then—stimulated by the work of Christine Solnon at INSA de Lyon.

When a computer program explores a large space of possibilities, it needs good data structures that are able to undo every tentative decision that has been made, thereby allowing new decisions to take their place.

The dancing links idea is a simple modification of a 60-year-old method (doubly linked lists), which is particularly suited to undoing. As a result, algorithms based on dancing links have become the method of choice for exploring the set of solutions to a huge variety of combinatorial problems.

The dancing cells idea, similarly, is a simple modification of a 30-year-old method (sparse-set representation), and it provides efficient support for that same wide class of applications. Indeed, programs based on dancing cells often turn out to be significantly faster than the analogous programs based on dancing links. And again, there is exquisite choreography!

At least 10 of the Israeli civilians released by Hamas, both men and women, were sexually assaulted or abused while in captivity, the Associated Press reported Wednesday.

In a report detailing allegations of severe and widespread sexual abuse by Hamas terrorists during their October 7 onslaught and later against hostages, a doctor who treated some of the 110 hostages released from captivity told the AP that at least 10 men and women among those freed were sexually assaulted or abused.

Original AP article that reports this where it's buried in the last section right before the end of the article.

Red Cross officials have not yet been allowed to visit hostages that Hamas is holding in Gaza, multiple sources have told CNN – a violation of an agreement struck between Israel and Hamas, which stipulated that the Red Cross would be able to visit the hostages by the end of the fourth day of the truce.

US President Joe Biden’s national security adviser Jake Sullivan said over the weekend that as a part of the Israel-Hamas truce agreement, Red Cross officials would be able to visit hostages still held captive in Gaza “by the end of the fourth day.” Another source familiar with the terms of the agreement echoed that this was an aspect of the deal.

There are also more than 30 hostages being held by other groups, and several of the hostages who were captured by Hamas are no longer being held by Hamas, and some others who were captured by PIJ were released by Hamas.

Biden said the girl “has been through a terrible trauma.” Her mother was killed in front of her, the president said. She then ran to her father, Biden said, who used his body to shield his daughter and was killed.

No Americans were released as part of the deal on Friday or Saturday. There are 10 Americans who are unaccounted for at this time.

“We do believe that Hamas has obliged to maintain its part of the commitment on Red Cross visitation of the hostages and we expect Qatar and Egypt and other countries to hold Hamas accountable to hold that commitment by the end of tomorrow,” Sullivan said.

Israel and Hamas have reached an agreement for a four-day halt to the devastating war in Gaza, accompanied by the release of dozens of hostages held by the militant group in return for Palestinian prisoners jailed by Israel, mediators said Wednesday.

Fifty hostages will be released in stages, in exchange for what Hamas said would be 150 Palestinian prisoners held by Israel.

A British doctor who used to work at Shifa Hospital, Gaza’s largest medical center, under which the IDF says Hamas operates a major command and control base, has confirmed that there were areas of the hospital where he could not go, or else he would be shot.

In a recent interview with the English-language channel of French broadcaster France24...

In the brightly lit corridors of the MRI unit, Lieutenant Colonel Jonathan Conricus shows us three small stashes of Kalashnikovs, ammunition and bullet-proof vests - he says they have found around 15 guns in all, along with some grenades.

The laptops, he says, contain photos and videos of hostages, taken after their kidnap to Gaza. There is also recently released footage, shared by Israeli police, of their interrogations of Hamas fighters arrested after the October attacks. The BBC was not shown what was on the laptops.

Israeli reports are showing images of the laptop open with images of a hostage - with footage attributed to Fox News (the other international news outlet who were escorted through Al-Shifa).

EDIT: the images appear to be from before October 7th per Times of Israel.

Six people were wounded, including one critically, in a Palestinian terrorist shooting attack targeting the “tunnels” checkpoint on the West Bank’s Route 60, south of Jerusalem, police and medics said Thursday morning.

Police said the car in which the terrorists arrived had false license plates, and identified two of them as Palestinians from the Hebron area. The Shin Bet security agency later named the two as Hamas member Abdelqader Qawasmeh, 26, and 28-year-old Hassan Qafisha, who is affilated with Hamas and whose father was the head of the terror group’s military arm in Hebron until he was killed in 2003. The identity of the third gunman was still under investigation.

Police Commissioner Kobi Shabtai, who arrived at the scene, said this indicated that they had planned a much larger-scale terror “massacre” inside Jerusalem.

Amid the exchange of fire, the IDF says civilians were seen leaving the hospital, and other operatives came out of adjacent buildings and hid among them to attack the Israeli forces.

The military releases footage of the battle that appears to show RPG-wielding terrorists running into the hospital.

The Israel Defense Forces says it supplied 300 liters of fuel for “urgent medical purposes” at Shifa Hospital in Gaza City, but Hamas prevented the medical center from receiving it.

Early this morning, troops placed the jerrycans near the hospital, as had been coordinated in advance with officials at Shifa.

The IDF Arabic spokesperson posted images of the civilians evacuating and announced an additional humanitarian corridor, supplementing the one recently established, which will be open for Gazans wishing to relocate southward until 2pm local time.

"Use this opportunity to go south to the other side of Wadi Gaza," he said, referring to the body of water that delineates the southern and northern parts of the Palestinian territory. "Many are doing so at this time. If you care for yourselves and your loved ones, move south according to our instructions. You can be sure Hamas leaders have already taken care of their own needs."