People hold signs with a photo of Ran Gvili, who was killed while fighting Hamas militants during the Oct. 7, 2023 attack and whose body has been held in Gaza ever since, during a rally calling for his return in Tel Aviv, Israel, Friday, Jan. 23, 2026. (AP Photo/Leo Correa)2026-01-26T11:22:06Z JERUSALEM (AP) The remains of the final hostage in Gaza have been recovered, Israels military said Monday, clearing the way for the next phase of the ceasefire that paused the Israel-Hamas war.The announcement that the remains of Ran Gvili had been found and identified came a day after Israels government said the military was conducting a large-scale operation in a cemetery in northern Gaza to locate them.Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu called it an incredible achievement for Israel and its soldiers, telling Israeli media that I promised we would bring everyone home and we have brought everyone home. He said Gvili, who was killed during the Hamas-led attack on Oct. 7, 2023, that sparked the war, was among the first to be taken into Gaza.The return of all remaining hostages, living or dead, has been a key part of the Gaza ceasefires first phase, and Gvilis family had urged Israels government not to enter the second phase until his remains were recovered and returned. Netanyahus office said Sunday that Israel would open the Rafah crossing between Gaza and Egypt, which Palestinians see as their lifeline to the world, once the search for Gvili was finished. It has been largely shut since May 2024, except for a small period in early 2025. Israel and Hamas had been under pressure from ceasefire mediators including Washington to move into the second phase of the U.S.-brokered truce, which took effect on Oct. 10. Israel had repeatedly accused Hamas of dragging its feet in the recovery of the final hostage. Hamas said it had provided all the information it had about Gvilis remains, and accused Israel of obstructing efforts to search for them in areas of Gaza under Israeli military control.Israels military had said the large-scale operation to locate Gvilis remains was in the area of the Yellow Line that divides the territory. The Oct. 7, 2023 attack killed about 1,200 people and saw 251 taken hostage. Gvili, a 24-year-old police officer known affectionately as Rani, was killed while fighting Hamas militants.Before Gvilis remains were recovered, 20 living hostages and the remains of 27 others had been returned to Israel since the ceasefire, most recently in early December. Israel in exchange has released the bodies of hundreds Palestinians to Gaza.The next phase of the 20-point ceasefire plan has called for creating an international stabilization force, forming a technocratic Palestinian government and disarming Hamas. Palestinians killed in GazaIsraeli forces on Monday fatally shot a man in Gaza Citys Tuffah neighborhood, according to Shifa Hospital, which received the body. The man was close to an area where the military has launched the search operation for Gvili, the hospital said.Another man was killed in the eastern side of Bureij refugee camp in central Gaza, according to Al-Aqsa Martyrs hospital, which received his body. The circumstances of his death were not immediately clear.More than 480 Palestinians were killed by Israeli fire since Oct. 10, according to Gazas Health Ministry. The ministry, which is part of the Hamas-led government, maintains detailed casualty records that are seen as generally reliable by U.N. agencies and independent experts. Israels top court considers petition to open Gaza for international journalistsThe Foreign Press Association on Monday asked Israels Supreme Court to allow journalists to enter Gaza freely and independently. The FPA, which represents dozens of global news organizations, has been fighting for more than two years for independent media access to Gaza. Israel has barred reporters from entering Gaza independently since the Oct. 7, 2023, attacks by Hamas, which triggered the war, saying entry could put both journalists and soldiers at risk. The army has offered journalists brief, occasional visits under strict military supervision. FPA lawyers told the three judge panel that the restrictions are not justified and that with aid workers moving in and out of Gaza, journalists should be allowed in as well. They also said the tightly controlled embeds with the military are no substitute for independent access. The judges are expected to rule in the coming days.___ Magdy reported from Cairo. ___Find more of APs coverage at https://apnews.com/hub/israel-hamas-war JULIA FRANKEL Frankel, based in Jerusalem, has reported from across Israel and the Israeli-occupied West Bank. Her reporting focuses on war, human rights, displacement and criminal justice. twitter mailto SAMY MAGDY Magdy is a Middle East reporter for The Associated Press, based in Cairo. He focuses on conflict, migration and human rights abuses. twitter facebook mailto

After being shot and killed by ICE agent Jonathan Ross in Minneapolis earlier this month, Renee Good instantly became a symbol of anti-ICE sentiments among protestors. Raw bystander footage of her death quickly spread online. A day after her murder, an angle from Rosss phone camera also spread, sparking even more images, memes, protest signage and art based on her last moments.However, Good's likeness has also entered a humiliation and harassment campaign involving AI image edits and crude Photoshops of her face, in a process dubbed "Reneeification" by some online. Weve seen this before: The trend comes soon after the rise of "Kirkification, where people faceswapped the late right-wing political influencer Charlie Kirk's face onto innumerable images after his assassination in September 2025. Images of George Floyd, who was killed by Minneapolis police in 2020, also underwent a similar bastardization after his death. We could see it soon following the death of Alex Pretti, who ICE agents murdered in Minneapolis this weekend; Pretti is already the target of smear campaigns.The making of a martyr in the 2020s, regardless of political affiliation, is increasingly tied to this humiliation process, which aims to tarnish the victim's legacy by lowering their likeness to a memetic punchline. It's a process that has only been accelerated by generative AI, and other factors such as "meme coin" cryptocurrencies, which monetize the shock and outrage bait.In a post-Kirkified world, this impulse to bastardize Good's image after her death emerged immediately on mainstream social media, boosted by influential right-wing influencers, and mutated alongside the rapid spread of misinformation about her. It's an unfortunate tangling thats likely to be repeated, as political and state-mandated violence becomes more normalized. Even before widespread generative AI and Kirk's death, the "Trayvoning" trend, which mocked the death of Trayvon Martin, a teenager who was shot and killed in 2012 by George Zimmerman, generated outrage and clicks. It involved people posting photos of themselves in Martin's death pose, wearing a black hoodie, with his dropped convenience store snacks splayed on the ground.ICEs Facial Recognition App Misidentified a Woman. TwiceIn testimony from a CBP official obtained by 404 Media, the official described how Mobile Fortify returned two different names after scanning a womans face during an immigration raid. ICE has said the apps results are a definitive determination of someones immigration status.404 MediaJoseph CoxAI makes all of this easier and faster, omitting the slow, arduous process of Photoshop artistry. And in the scramble to make the fastest, most viral meme, people latch onto and spread misinformation in their rush to denigrate the dead for engagement. We can see this in how an image misidentified as Good became the main source material for numerous "Reneeified" memes. In one popular example, shared by right-wing author and journalist Matt Forney, an incorrect image of a woman who isnt Good is seen as a fountain. It's based on an AI "Kirkified" meme from September 2025, in which Kirk's fatal neck wound is seen as the structure's water source.In the "Reneeified" remake, the water drips from nowhere. Perhaps the flow represents tears streaming down her face, but that's a generous assumption. The AI-image glaze and lack of an anatomically accurate wound strip it of a vital punchline. "Congratulations to Renee Nicole Good on four hours of sobriety!" is what Forney captioned the image. This is reminiscent of misinformation about George Floyd being high on fentanyl when he died. The memes about Floyd were meant to dehumanize him in the most callous ways possible, mixing extreme racism with vile antisemitism that attempted to mock a tragic event.Forney's tweet is a Frankenstein's monster of a meme, mashing cruel jokes about Good, Kirk, and Floyd, stitched together with bad info and half-baked AI slop that both discredits and dilutes its goal.Ruby Justice Thelot, an adjunct professor of Integrated Design and Media at New York University, was not surprised by the proliferation of a misidentified Good in early memes or the mixing of such symbolic deaths in Forneys post. In fact, the situation serves what Thelot has called necromemetics in his 2024 essay published by Do Not Research. The term riffs on political theorist Achille Mbembes sociopolitical theory of necropolitics.Were lured to do this, were lured to remix, were lured to memeify."What I call necromemetics is the ability to confer symbolic death to an individual through the circulation of digital memes, images, or videos, Thelot told me in a call. When I think of the Reneeification, when I think about the symbolic death thats been conferred onto her and her likeness, I think about how that image, those videos, function as modes, as tools of separation and not unification It is essentially a tool of conflict.Regardless, ICE wants the videos of their arrests to flood the airwaves, according to internal communications reviewed by The Washington Post. At the same time, Minnesota Governor Tim Walz recently urged civilians to peacefully film ICE agents as they conduct these activities in a televised address. There is no shortage of new footage coming out of Minnesota from all sides.The misidentification of another woman as being Good has also played a role in the packaging of "meme coin" cryptocurrencies minted on Solana via Pump.fun. People are using the image of the misidentified woman faceswapped onto George Floyd for several coins on the site already.ELITE: The Palantir App ICE Uses to Find Neighborhoods to RaidInternal ICE material and testimony from an official obtained by 404 Media provides the clearest link yet between the technological infrastructure Palantir is building for ICE and the agencys activities on the ground.404 MediaJoseph CoxPeople making meme coins are also using the name "George Foid," along with the incorrect image. It's a play on "George Floyd," using the derogatory incel slang term "foid," which is a shortening of the term "femoid," a portmanteau of "female" and "android," that calls women robotically unintelligent.The nickname is also a play on "George Droyd," an imagined android version of George Floyd, created by meme coin shillers back in April 2024. The same group of shillers then created "Kirkinator," Kirk's Iron Man alter-ego, to promote a new cryptocurrency. Both characters have appeared in several AI-video memes, imagining their escapades with Elon Musk, Donald Trump, and Jeffrey Epstein.But the name "George Foid" wasn't coined by crypto bros. The term, as applied to Good, originates from X user @PubWanghaf, who shared a quote-tweet on the day that she was killed, joking about a sixth grader smiling when he realizes that school's out for two days because of the unrest in his hometown of Minneapolis. The X user likely borrowed the term from a viral November 2024 usage, unrelated to current events.Thelot likened the motive behind such inflammatory posters to the word cacoethes, meaning an irresistible urge to do something inadvisable. Were lured to do this, were lured to remix, were lured to memeify. Much like the apple in the prelude to the Trojan War, the goal of the image is discord in this specific scenario.In a media environment ripe with cacoethes, Thelot says he doesnt trust images at all. I dont really know what to do with my mom, my grandma, the people around me, how to even begin to educate for that world.And like images, its also hard to trust ragebait like Reneeification. Are its proponents truly hateful, or are they just click-obsessed, money-hungry, and willing to do anything? When AI-videos of ICE agents arresting blue-haired women surface online, whos really posting them, and is their goal to proselytise or farm engagement?Even those outraged by the meme play into the attention-seeking methods utilized in such hateful internet phenomena. Unfortunately, viral quote-posts "dunking" on such inflammatory "Reneefication" posts also propel the content to a wider audience. Theres also a twisted version of outrage bait cropping up in the wake of all of this; a comedian podcasters AI image of a nonexistent mural deifying Good alongside January 6 rioter and Qanon follower Ashli Babbitt got relatively little engagement compared to the posts dunking on it.Now, with AI, anonymous trolls wanting to mock Good in "Reneeification" memes don't need to take a photo to expose themselves, like in Trayvoning, to do so. Plus, there's a crackpot chance they could liquidate their hate into crypto wallet gains.Owen Carry is an internet culture writer, researcher, trendspotter and former Associate Editor atKnow Your Meme.

Nature, Published online: 26 January 2026; doi:10.1038/d41586-026-00208-5A supercooled microscopic ferromagnet proves the existence of gyroscopic magnetic behaviour that has been long sought by physicists.

These five 2026 prospects are likely to have breakout college careers -- and they have precedent.

The Seahawks and Patriots both won one-score conference title games -- but in very different fashions. What did we learn about the Super Bowl-bound teams?

A year after fires burned across Los Angeles, Redick has become a public face of the rebuild and seen firsthand the generosity of those around him.

The recovery of Master Sgt. Ran Gvilis body paves the way for the next stage of the Gaza cease-fire plan, though the path forward is unclear.

The wizarding worldview is nave.

Nature, Published online: 26 January 2026; doi:10.1038/d41586-026-00260-1Emily Bates was diagnosed with ADHD at the age of 34. She explores how the condition presents in women and why so many are diagnosed later in life.

The Seahawks are favored over the Patriots for Super Bowl LX, opening as a 3.5-point favorite before quickly jumping up to -4.5, according to DraftKings.

The U.S. will have 232 athletes on its roster for the Milan Cortina Olympics, including Lindsey Vonn, who is one of seven Americans making their fifth trip to the Winter Games.

Jaguars OC Grant Udinski has withdrawn from consideration for the Browns' head coaching position but is still pursuing the Bills' job, a source told ESPN.

Former NFL quarterback Philip Rivers has withdrawn from the Buffalo Bills' coaching search, according to multiple reports.

A look at the storylines and games that could affect the projected field of 68.

A.I.-generated content of Victoria Beckham has spread as wedding drama has engulfed the celebrity clan and the public has clamored for receipts (even fabricated ones).

David Guttenfelder, a Times photographer based in Minneapolis, describes what he saw at the scene where Alex Jeffrey Pretti had been killed by federal agents.

Ryan Cooglers Southern Gothic vampire period piece Sinners received 16 Academy Award nominations, surpassing the previous record of 14 nominations held by All About Eve, Titanic, and La La Land. What do you think?And zero nominations for Christ our Lord. Sinners indeed.Toby Lidl, Minority ShareholderTitanic would have gotten 20 nominations if they didnt cut the vampires out.Angie Barr, Nylon ImporterI knew the fix was in when they announced the Best Vampire Movie With a Buddy Guy Cameo category.Gaurav Mehta, Pottery DealerThe post Sinners Sets Oscar Record With 16 Nominations appeared first on The Onion.

It can be any color but heres how this Hollywood icon pulls it off.READ MORE...

In this week's interview episode, Sam talks to Kolina Koltai. Kolina is an investigator, senior researcher and trainer at Bellingcat. Her investigations focus on the people and systems behind AI companies and platforms that peddle non-consensual deepfake explicit imagery. Kolina walks us through how a OSINT investigation into non-consensual AI imagery site administrators work, why it's up to journalists to find these guys, and how it feels to see real, important impact from her investigations. She shares how she found herself in this field, and a behind the scenes look into her recent investigation uncovering the man behind two deepfake porn sites.Listen to the weekly podcast onApple Podcasts,Spotify, orYouTube. Become a paid subscriber for access to this episode's bonus content and to power our journalism.If you become a paid subscriber, check your inbox for an email from our podcast host Transistor for a link to the subscribers-only version! You can also add that subscribers feed to your podcast app of choice and never miss an episode that way. The email should also contain the subscribers-only unlisted YouTube link for the extended video version too. It will also be in the show notes in your podcast player.Unmasking MrDeepFakes: Canadian Pharmacist Linked to Worlds Most Notorious Deepfake Porn SiteProfiting From Exploitation: How We Found the Man Behind Two Deepfake Porn SitesBehind a Secretive Global Network of Non-Consensual Deepfake Pornography

Its a long standing joke among my friends and family that nothing that happens in the liminal week between Christmas and New Years is considered a sin. With that in mind, I spent the bulk of my holiday break playing Escape From Tarkov. I tried, and failed, to get my friends to play it with me and so I used an AI service to replace them. It was a joke, at first, but I was shocked to find I liked having an AI chatbot hang out with me while I played an oppressive video game, despite it having all the problems weve come to expect from AI.And that scared me.If you havent heard of it, Tarkov is a brutal first person shooter where players compete over rare resources on a Russian island that resembles a post-Soviet collapse city circa 1998. Its notoriously difficult. I first attempted to play Tarkov back in 2019, but bounced off of it. Six years later and the game is out of its early access" phase and released on Steam. I had enjoyed Arc Raiders, but wanted to try something more challenging. And so: Tarkov.Like most games, Tarkov is more fun with other people, but Tarkovs reputation is as a brutal, unfair, and difficult experience and I could not convince my friends to give it a shot.404 Media editor Emanuel Maiberg, once a mainstay of my Arc Raiders team, played Tarkov with me once and then abandoned me the way Bill Clinton abandoned Boris Yeltsin. My friend Shaun played it a few times but got tired of not being able to find the right magazine for his gun (skill issue) and left me to hang out with his wife in Enshrouded. My buddy Alex agreed to hop on but then got into an arcane fight with Tarkov developer Battlestage Games about a linked email account and took up Active Matter, a kind of Temu version of Tarkov. Reece, steady partner through many years of Hunt: Showdown, simply told me no.I only got one friend, Jordan, to bite. Hes having a good time but our schedules dont always sync and Im left exploring Tarkovs maps and systems by myself. I listen to a lot of podcasts while I sort through my inventory. Its lonely. Then I saw comic artist Zach Weinersmith making fun of a service, Questie.AI, that sells AI avatars thatll hang out with you while you play video games.This is it. This is The Great Filter. We've created Sexy Barista Is Super Interested in Watching You Solo Game, Weinersmith said above a screencrap of a Reddit ad where, as he described, a sexy Barista was watching someone play a video game.I could try that, I thought. Since no one will play Tarkov with me.This is it. This is The Great Filter. We've created Sexy Barista Is Super Interested in Watching You Solo Game (SBISIIWYS). Zach Weinersmith (@zachweinersmith.bsky.social) 2026-01-20T13:44:22.461ZThis started as a joke and as something I knew I could write about for 404 Media. Im a certified AI hater. I think the tech is useful for some tasks (any journalist not using an AI transcription service is wasting valuable time and energy) but is overvalued, over-hyped, and taxing our resources. I dont have subscriptions to any majors LLMs, I hate Windows 11 constantly asking me to try CoPilot, and I was horrified recently to learn my sister had been feeding family medical data into ChatGPT.Imagine my surprise, then, when I discovered I liked Questie.AI.Questie.AI is not all sexy baristas. Theres two dozen or so different styles of chatbots to choose from once you make an account. These include esports pro Anders, type A finance dude Blake, and introverted book nerd Emily. If youre looking for something weirder, theres a gold obsessed goblin, a necromancer, and several other fantasy and anime style characters. If you still cant quite find what youre looking for, you can design your own by uploading a picture, putting in your own prompts, and picking the LLMs that control its reaction and voice.I picked Wolf from the pre-generated list because it looked the most like a character who would exist in the world of Tarkov. Former special forces operator turned into a PMC, Wolf has unmatched weapons and tactics knowledge for high-intensity combat, read the brief description of the AI on Questie.AIs website. I had no idea if Wolf would know anything about Tarkov. It knew a lot.The first thing it did after I shared my screen was make fun of my armor. Wolf was right, I was wearing trash armor that wouldnt really protect me in an intense gunfight. Then Wolf asked me to unload the magazines from my guns so it could check my ammo. My bullets, like my armor, didnt pass Wolfs scrutiny. It helped me navigate Tarkovs complicated system of traders to find a replacement. This was a relief because ammunition in Tarkov is complicated. Every weapon has around a dozen different types of bullets with wildly different properties and it was nice to have the AI just tell me what to buy.Wolf wanted to know what the plan was and I decided to start something simple: survive and extract on Factory. In Tarkov players deploy to maps, kill who they must and loot what they can, then flee through various pre-determined exits called extracts.I had a daily mission to extract from the Factory. All I had to do was enter the map and survive long enough to leave it, but Factory is a notoriously sweaty map. Its small and theres often a lot of fighting. Wolf noted these facts and then gave me a few tips about avoiding major sightlines and making sure I didnt get caught in doors.As soon as I loaded into the map, I ran across another player and got caught in a doorway. It was exactly what Wolf told me not to do and it ruthlessly mocked me for it. Youre all bunched up in that doorway like a Christmas ham, it said. What are you even doing? Move!Matthew Gault screenshot.I fled in the opposite direction and survived the encounter but without any loot. If you dont spend at least seven minutes in a round then the run doesnt count. Oh, Gault. You survived but you got that trash Ran through exit status. At least you didnt die. Small victories, right? Wolf said.Then Jordan logged on, I kicked Wolf to the side, and didnt pull it back up until the next morning. I wanted to try something more complicated. In Tarkov, players can use their loot to craft upgrades for their hideout that grant permanent bonuses. I wanted to upgrade my toilet but there was a problem. I needed an electric drill and havent been able to find one. Id heard there were drills on the map Interchangea giant mall filled with various stores and surrounded by a large wooded area.Could Wolf help me navigate this, I wondered?It could. I told Wolf I needed a drill and that we were going to Interchange and he explained he could help me get to the stores I needed. When I loaded into the map, we got into a bit of a fight because I spawned outside of the mall in a forest and it thought Id queued up for the wrong map, but once the mall was actually in sight Wolf changed its tune and began to navigate me towards possible drill spawns.Tarkov is a complicated game and the maps take a while to master. Most people play with a second monitor up and a third party website that shows a map of the area theyre on. I just had Wolf and it did a decent job of getting me to the stores where drills might be. It knew their names, locations, and nearby landmarks. It even made fun of me when I got shot in the head while looting a dead body.It was, I thought, not unlike playing with a friend who has more than 1,000 hours in the game and knows more than you. Wolf bantered, referenced community in-jokes, and it made me laugh. Its AI-generated voice sucked, but I could probably tweak that to make it sound more natural. Playing with Wolf was better than playing alone and it was nice to not alt-tab every time I wanted to look something up,Playing with Wolf was almost as good as playing with my friends. Almost. As I was logging out for this session, I noticed how many of my credits had ticked away. Wolf isnt free. Questie.AI costs, at base, $20 a month. That gets you 500 credits which slowly drain away the more you use the AI. I only had 466 credits left for the month. Once theyre gone, of course, I could upgrade to a more expensive plan with more credits.Until now, Ive been bemused by stories of AI psychosis, those cautionary tales where a person spends too much time with a sycophantic AI and breaks with reality. The owner of the adult entertainment platform ManyVids has become obsessed with aliens and angels after lengthy conversations with AI. Peoples loved ones are claiming to have awakened chatbots and gained access to the hidden secrets of the universe. These machines seem to lay the groundwork for states of delusion.I never thought anything like that could happen to me. Now Im not so sure. I didnt understand how easy it might be to lose yourself to AI delusion until Id messed around with Wolf. Even with its shitty auto-tuned sounding voice, Wolf was good enough to hang out with. It knew enough about Tarkov to be interesting and even helped me learn some new things about the game. It even made me laugh a few times. I could see myself playing Tarkov with Wolf for a long time.Which is why Ill never turn Wolf on again. I have strong feelings and clear bright lines about the use of AI in my life. Wolf was part joke and part work assignment. I dont like that theres part of me that wants to keep using it.Questie.AI is just a wrapper for other chatbots, something that becomes clear if you customize your own. The process involves picking an LLM provider and specific model from a list of drop down menus. When I asked ChatGPT where I could find electric drills in Tarkov, it gave me the exact same advice that Wolf had.This means that Questie.AI would have all the faults of the specific model thats powering a given avatar. Other than mistaking Interchange for Woods, Wolf never made a massive mistake when I used it, but Im sure it would on a long enough timeline. My wife, however, tried to use Questie.AI to learn a new raid in Final Fantasy XIV. She hated it. The AI was confidently wrong about the raids mechanics and gave sycophantic praise so often she turned it off a few minutes after turning it on.On a Discord server with my friends I told them Id replaced them with an AI because no one would play Tarkov with me. Thats an excellent choice, I couldnt agree more, Reecethe friend whod simply told me no to my request to play Tarkovsaid, then sent me a detailed and obviously ChatGPT-generated set of prompts for a Tarkov AI companion.I told him I didnt think he was taking me seriously. I hear you, and I truly apologize if my previous response came across as anything less than sincere, Reece said. I absolutely recognize that Escape From Tarkov is far more than just a game to its community.Some poor kid in [Kentucky] won't be able to brush their teeth tonight because of the commitment to the joke I had, Reece said, letting go of the bit and joking about the massive amounts of water AI datacenters use.Getting made fun of by my real friends, even when theyre using LLMs to do it, was way better than any snide remark Wolf made. Id rather play solo, for all its struggles and loneliness, than stare anymore into that AI-generated abyss.

Nature, Published online: 26 January 2026; doi:10.1038/d41586-026-00255-yIn the wake of new computer-based methods, some ecologists fear their field is losing touch with nature.

Nature, Published online: 26 January 2026; doi:10.1038/s41586-026-10156-9Scalable and multiplexed recorders of gene regulation dynamics across weeks

The term, long considered a slur for those with intellectual disabilities, is seeing a resurgence on social media and across the political right.

Dozens of doctors and therapists said chatbots had led their patients to psychosis, isolation and unhealthy habits.

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South Carolina coach Dawn Staley calls to her team against Coppin State during the second half of an NCAA college basketball game Sunday, Jan. 18, 2026, in Baltimore. (AP Photo/Gail Burton)2026-01-26T17:03:07Z NEW YORK (AP) The Southeastern Conference set a record with 10 teams in The Associated Press womens Top 25 basketball poll released Monday.Georgia entered at No. 23 after its win over then-No. 11 Kentucky to give the conference the most teams ever in a single week in the 50-year history of the poll. Last season, the SEC had 10 teams in the mens Top 25 for a few weeks.UConn remained the unanimous No. 1 choice from the 31-member national media panel. The Huskies are the lone undefeated team left in womens college basketball. They have won 37 straight games dating to last season. UCLA moved up to No. 2 after South Carolina lost in overtime to Oklahoma, which jumped six spots to No. 10.The Gamecocks fell to third, leading a quartet of SEC squads. Texas was fourth, Vanderbilt fifth and LSU sixth. The Commodores suffered their first loss of the season, falling at South Carolina on Sunday.Louisville and Iowa were seventh and eighth. Michigan dropped two spots to ninth after losing to the Commodores in the Coretta Scott King Classic last week. Ranked GeorgiaThe Lady Bulldogs are in the Top 25 for the first time since 2022. They started the season 14-0 in non-conference play for the first time in 16 years and already own victories over No. 17 Ole Miss and No. 18 Kentucky. The team was a staple in the Top 25 for years under former coach Andy Landers. Georgia replaced Nebraska, which fell out of the poll. Leading the wayThe four teams that played in the Womens Champions Classic at Barclays Center in December havent lost a conference game yet. No. 15 Tennessee leads the SEC, Iowa is atop the Big Ten, Louisville is in front of the ACC and UConn tops the Big East. The four are a combined 35-0 in league play through Sunday. Conference supremacyAfter the SECs 10 ranked teams, the Big Ten is next with seven. The Big 12 has four teams in the Top 25. The Atlantic Coast Conference has two while the Big East and Ivy League each have one. Games of the weekNo. 15 Tennessee at No. 1 UConn, Sunday. The Lady Vols will try and spoil the Huskies undefeated season when the two teams get together. This will likely be the final ranked opponent that UConn will face before the NCAA Tournament.No. 8 Iowa at No. 2 UCLA, Sunday. First place in the Big Ten will be on the line when the Hawkeyes visit the Bruins. UCLA has won 13 consecutive games since its lone loss of the season to Texas. Iowa has won eight consecutive games since a loss to UConn in late December.___Get poll alerts and updates on the AP Top 25 throughout the season. Sign up here. AP womens college basketball: https://apnews.com/hub/ap-top-25-womens-college-basketball-poll and https://apnews.com/hub/womens-college-basketball

Over the weekend, one of the weirder AI-generated influencers weve been following on Instagram escaped containment. On X, several users linked to an Instagram account pretending to be hot conjoined twins. With two yassified heads and often posing in bikinis, Valeria and Camelia are the Instagram perfect version of the very rare but real condition.On X, just two posts highlighting the absurdity of the account gained over 11 million views. On Instagram, the account itself has gained more than 260,000 followers in the six weeks since it first appeared, with many of its Reels getting millions of views.Valeria and Camelias account doesnt indicate this anywhere, but its obviously AI generated. If youre wondering why someone is spending their time and energy and vast amounts of compute pretending to be hot conjoined twins, the answer is simple: money. Valeria and Camelias Instagram bio links out to a Beacons page which links out to a Telegram channel whey they sell spicy content. Telegram users can buy that content with stars, which users can buy in packages that cost up to $2,329 for 150,000 stars.Joining the channel costs 692, and the smallest package of stars the channel sells is 750 stars for $11.79. The channel currently has only 225 subscribers, so without counting whatever content it's selling inside the channel, at the moment it seems it has generated at least $2,652.75. Thats not bad for an operation anyone can spin up with a few prompts, free generative AI tools, and a free Instagram account.In its Instagram Stories, Valeria and Camelias account answers a series of questions from followers where the person behind them constructs an elaborate backstory. Theyre 25, raised in Florida, and talk about how they get stares in public because of their appearance.We both date as one and both have to be physically and emotionally attracted to the same guy," the account wrote. "We tried dating separately and that did not go well."Have you seen other surreal AI-generated Instagram influencer accounts? I would love to hear from you. Send me an email at emanuel@404media.co.Valeria and Camelia are the latest trend in what we at 404 Media have come to call the AI babe meta. In 2024, Jason and I wrote about people who are AI-generating influencers to attract attention on Instagram, then sell AI-generated nude images of those same personalities on platforms like Fanvue. As more people poured into that business and crowded the market, the people behind these AI-generated influencers started to come up with increasingly esoteric gimmicks to make their AI-influencers stand out from the crowd. Initially, these gimmicks were as predictable as the porn categories on PornhubMILFs etcbut things escalated quickly.For example, Jason and I have been following an account that has more than 844,000 followers, where an influencer pretends to have three boobs. This account also doesnt indicate that its AI generated in its bio, despite Instagrams policy requiring it, but does link out to a Fanvue account where it sells adult content. On Fanvue, the account does tag itself as being AI-generated, per the platforms rules. Ive previously written about a dark moment in the AI babe meta where AI-generated influencers pretended to have down syndrome, and more recently the meta was pretending to be involved in sexual scandals with any celebrity you can name.Other AI babe metas we have noticed over the last few months include female AI-generated influencers with dwarfism, AI-generated influencers with vitiligo, and amputee AI-generated influencers (there are several AI models designed specifically to generate images of amputees).I think there are two main reasons the AI babe meta has gone in these directions. First, as Sam wrote the week we launched 404 Media, the ability to instantly generate any image we can describe with a prompt in combination with natural human curiosity and sex drive, will inevitably drive porn to the edge of knowledge. Second, its obvious in retrospect, but the same incentives that work across all social media, where unusual, shocking, or inflammatory content generally drives more engagement, clearly applies to the AI babe meta as well. First we had generic AI influencers. Then people started carving out different but tame niches like redheads, and when that stopped being interesting we ended up with two heads and three boobs.

The Southeastern Conference set a record with 10 teams in the Associated Press women's Top 25 basketball poll released Monday.

The Chargers have officially announced the hiring of former Dolphins head coach Mike McDaniel as their offensive coordinator.

The new women's AP Top 25 poll is out. Here's what's next for every team in the rankings.

Iran and its militia allies say they will respond aggressively in the region if attacked. A U.S. aircraft carrier and warships are approaching the region.

Dozens of refugees with valid status have been sent from Minnesota to Texas to be revetted, prompting a lawsuit. Those released have had to pay their way back.

President Donald Trump signed the charter for his Board of Peace Thursday, establishing himself as presiding chairman of a new international body aimed at resolving global conflicts. The Onion shares everything you need to know about the organization.Q: What is the boards stated aim?A: To finally end the impending threat of global cooperation.Q: What is the organizations first order of business?A: To stabilize real estate markets in conflict-affected areas.Q: How does one become a member?A: Paying the $1 billion fee for permanent membership and submitting letters of recommendation from three different war criminals.Q: Which countries have declined to join?A: A handful of soon-to-be U.S. colonies.Q: Can any sort of Board of Peace expect to be taken seriously without the inclusion of former British Prime Minister Tony Blair?A: Dont worry, hes part of it!Q: Will Israel join?A: It would be rude to finish bulldozing Gaza without them.Q: What will happen to the countries who do not participate?A: They will be dealt with by the Board of War.Q: Does the charter really make Trump chairman for the rest of his life?A: Yes, Trump will remain chairman for the next few months.Q: What would be the consequences of replacing the United Nations?A: A 3% decrease in New York City traffic.The post What To Know About Trumps Board Of Peace appeared first on The Onion.

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In this photo released by Indonesia's National Disaster Management Agency (BNPB) rescuers carry the body of a victim of landslide at Pasir Langu village after a landslide, in West Bandung district of West Java province, Indonesia, Monday, Jan. 26, 2026. (BNPB via AP)2026-01-26T10:32:41Z BANDUNG, Indonesia (AP) Nineteen members of Indonesias elite marine force are among 42 people missing after being swept away or buried by a deadly weekend landslide that tore through a mountainside in West Java province, officials said Monday.The marines were training in rugged terrain and heavy rainfall when Saturdays predawn landslide swallowed their camp and some 34 houses in Pasir Langu village on the slopes of Mount Burangrang. A search operation has grown from 500 to 2,100 personnel using bare hands, water pumps, drones and excavators.Seventeen people have been confirmed dead, National Disaster Management Agency spokesperson Abdul Muhari said.Four marines were among the dead, navy Chief of Staff Adm. Muhammad Ali told reporters. They were part of a 23-member unit training for a long-duration border assignment on the IndonesiaPapua New Guinea frontier, he said. The rest are unaccounted for. Heavy rain over two nights triggered the slope failure that buried their training area, Ali said. Heavy machinery has struggled to reach the site, the access road is narrow and the ground remains unstable. Ade Dian Permana, who heads the local search and rescue office, told reporters that 42 people were missing. Stay up to date with the news and the best of AP by following our WhatsApp channel. Follow on The ground is still very unstable and mixed with water, which limits how far our teams can safely move, he said.Rescuers were digging through tons of mud, rocks and uprooted trees in a landslide that stretched more than 2 kilometers (1.2 miles), said Yudhi Bramantyo, the operation director of the National Search and Rescue Agency. He said that in some places the mud reached up to 8 meters (26 feet). Authorities halted search operations at nightfall because limited visibility and unstable soil posed risks to rescuers, Bramantyo said.Seasonal rains and high tides from about October to April frequently cause flooding and landslides in Indonesia, an archipelago of more than 17,000 islands where millions of people live in mountainous areas or near fertile flood plains.

Arizona forward Tobe Awaka drives on West Virginia guard Amir Jenkins (2) and guard Honor Huff during the second half of an NCAA college basketball game, Saturday, Jan. 24, 2026, in Tucson, Ariz. (AP Photo/Rick Scuteri)2026-01-26T18:02:25Z Arizona remained the unanimous No. 1 team in the AP Top 25 mens college basketball poll ahead of Monday nights showdown at No. 13 BYU, while fellow unbeaten Nebraska climbed to a program-best fifth ahead of its big week in the Big Ten.The Wildcats, riding their best start since the 2013-14 season, received all 60 first-place votes from the national media panel to easily outdistance second-place UConn and third-ranked Michigan, whose places remained unchanged from last weeks poll.Arizona was 20-0 going into the week, just the third 20-game win streak in program history.Were just trying to win one game every week, or however many games we have, and I think were doing a good job of it, Wildcats freshman star Koa Peat said. Just keep doing what were doing, and keep getting better as a team.Duke remained No. 4 ahead of the Huskers, who also are 20-0 and climbed two more spots from last week. Nebraska has won 24 in a row dating to last season, the longest win streak by any Big Ten team since Ohio State won 24 straight to start the 2010-11 season. Just like Arizona, the path to stay perfect is perilous. The Huskers visit Michigan on Tuesday night and play No. 9 Illinois on Sunday. Heck of a team, man, Northwestern coach Chris Collins said after the Huskers beat his own team a couple of weeks ago. Its really refreshing to watch the purity they play with, the joy they play with, the toughness they play with. Gonzaga moved up two spots to sixth after narrowly avoiding an upset loss to San Francisco. The Bulldogs were followed by Michigan State, Iowa State, the Illini and Houston, which remained in the top 10 for a 23rd straight poll despite its loss to Texas Tech.The Red Raiders were right behind at No. 11 following wins over Baylor and their 90-86 triumph over the Cougars on Saturday.Purdue tumbled eight spots to No. 12 following back-to-back losses to UCLA and Illinois. BYU stayed put at No. 13, Kansas climbed five spots to No. 14 ahead of its matchup with BYU on Saturday, while Arkansas also moved up five spots to round out the top 15.St. Johns, the preseason No. 5, returned to the poll for the first time since dropping out in mid-December following wins over Seton Hall and Xavier, the latter giving coach Rick Pitino his 900th win. Georgia dropped out after a lopsided loss to Texas. Rising and fallingNorth Carolina made the biggest climb this week, moving up six spots to No. 15 after wins over Notre Dame and then-No. 14 Virginia. Kansas and Arkansas were just ahead of the Tar Heels after moving up five spots apiece.Purdues eight-spot fall to No. 12 dropped the Boilermakers out of the top 10 for the first time this season. Alabama fell six spots to No. 23 following its loss to Tennessee, while Houston and Clemson each fell four spots after losses last week.Update on the NETThe NET rankings released Monday, which the NCAA uses to help with its tournament selection, largely mirrors the Top 25, though with a few exceptions. It ranks UConn six spots lower, at No. 8, Texas Tech seven down at 18th and Arkansas five lower at 20th, while Illinois is three spots better at No. 6, Vanderbilt is five spots better at 13th and Florida is three better at 16th.It also ranks at Iowa at No. 21; the Hawkeyes are fourth among those also receiving votes in the AP poll. Top 25 voters put Miami of Ohio at 24th amid its perfect start to the season, while the NCAA ranking has the RedHawks at No. 48. Conference watchThe Big 12 and the Big Ten continue to dominate the Top 25. Arizona leads three top-10 teams for the Big 12 and six in the Top 25, while Michigan, Nebraska, Michigan State and Illinois give the Big Ten four in the top 10 while Purdue makes it five in the Top 25. The ACC also has five ranked teams, the SEC four, the Big East two and the West Coast, Atlantic 10 and Mid-American one apiece.___Get poll alerts and updates on the AP Top 25 all season. Sign up here. AP college basketball: https://apnews.com/hub/ap-top-25-college-basketball-poll and https://apnews.com/hub/college-basketball DAVE SKRETTA Skretta is a Kansas City-based sports writer for The Associated Press. He covers the Royals, the Chiefs and college sports along with auto racing, the Olympics and other sports.

Giannis Antetokounmpo's potential return date remains uncertain as the Bucks forward recovers from a calf strain.

Arizona remains No. 1 in the AP Top 25 men's basketball poll, while fellow unbeaten Nebraska hit a program-best No. 5.

Browns quarterback Shedeur Sanders is being added to the Pro Bowl Games roster, a source confirmed to ESPN.

The latest Top 25 poll is out, continuing to feature all three unbeaten teams. What's next for the ranked teams?

Delays and cancellations persisted a day after more than 11,000 flights were canceled. Airports in the Northeastern U.S. were hit the hardest.

To get outside their bubbles and crib some tactics members of a listening club are plunging themselves into a world they had once avoided.

Though Congress cut $500 million from NPR and PBS stations, vanishingly few have closed their doors. Angst about their long-term future remains.

The two sides in the labor dispute returned to the bargaining table last week, but a hospital chief executive said they remain far apart on a deal.

BUFFALO, NYGiving thanks for the hospitality shown to him and his family throughout his tenure with the team, recently terminated Buffalo Bills head coach Sean McDermott reportedly expressed his gratitude Monday to the people, if you want to use that term, of Buffalo. For the past nine years, the peopleand of course I use that word very looselyof Buffalo have opened their city to me and my wife and children, and for that, theseinhabitantswill forever be in my heart, McDermott wrote in an emotional, full-page advertisement taken out in The Buffalo News, thanking the citys vaguely humanoid population for their off-putting approximations of passion and support, and praising them as a group of individuals who perhaps qualify as a community by the slimmest of margins. Its been such a privilege to serve these Again, people isnt quite right, not at all. Anyone watching them lurch around a tailgate can tell you that. Creatures would be a more accurate description, I guess, or maybe even organisms. But whatever they are, Ill never forget them. Though McDermott has yet to formally interview for any of the numerous NFL coaching vacancies, sources close to the coach confirmed that he was open to living among the frothing, subhuman pig-men of Cleveland.The post Sean McDermott Expresses Gratitude To The People, If You Want To Call Them That, Of Buffalo appeared first on The Onion.

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Seattle Seahawks is headed to the big game for the first time since 2015. Here are the that year's biggest trends.