Quordle today – hints and answers for Thursday, February 29 (game #766)

Quordle today - hints and answers for Monday, October 2 (game #616)


It’s time for your daily dose of Quordle hints, plus the answers for both the main game and the Daily Sequence spin off. 

Quordle is the only one of the many Wordle clones that I’m still playing now, around two years after the daily-word-game craze hit the internet, and with good reason: it’s fun, but also difficult.



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Israel-Hamas Live News: Netanyahu to Meet With U.S. Official to Discuss Hostage Deal

Israel-Hamas Live News: Netanyahu to Meet With U.S. Official to Discuss Hostage Deal


A song called “October Rain” might simply be a ballad about dreary fall weather. But in the charged atmosphere following the Hamas-led attacks on Israel of Oct. 7, the title could also signal a lament about that tragedy, or a rallying call to stand firm against terrorism.

This week, the meaning of “October Rain” — a song that very few people have heard — became a contested question when newspapers in Israel reported that a song with that name had been chosen to represent the country in this year’s Eurovision Song Contest.

Although initial reports gave few details of the song, they sparked a furor on social media. Some Eurovision fans complained that the track was clearly referring to Oct. 7 and should not be allowed in the nonpolitical event in which pop stars, representing countries, compete against each other each May.

Since Eurovision began in 1956, the European Broadcasting Union, which organizes the contest, has forbidden songs that make political statements, insisting that the competition should unify, rather than divide. Every year, the union vets proposed lyrics to ensure they do not undermine that principle. Although Israel is not in Europe, its broadcaster is a member of the European Broadcasting Union, and therefore the country is eligible to compete in Eurovision.

On Wednesday, the news division of Kan, Israel’s public broadcaster, which oversees the country’s participation in Eurovision, reported that the broadcaster had begun discussions with the European Broadcasting Union over the suitability of “October Rain.” If the union refused to approve the track, the report speculated, Israel would not submit an alternative and would then be barred from the contest.

Miki Zohar, the country’s culture minister, said in a post on X on Wednesday that it would be “scandalous” if the song wasn’t allowed to compete.

In a letter sent to the European Broadcasting Union on Thursday, seen by The New York Times, Zohar put the case for “October Rain.” It was “an emotional song, discussing regeneration and rebirth,” he wrote. And while it reflected “the current public sentiment in Israel these days,” he said, that doesn’t make it “a political song.” (A spokesman for the minister said that Zohar hadn’t heard the “confidential” song, but had seen “a large part” of its lyrics.)

A European Broadcasting Union spokeswoman said in an email on Thursday that it was “currently in the process of scrutinizing the lyrics,” as it does for all proposed Eurovision tracks. “If a song is deemed unacceptable for any reason, broadcasters are then given the opportunity to submit a new song or new lyrics,” the spokeswoman added.

Even before this week’s uproar, Israel’s participation in this year’s Eurovision, which will be held in Malmo, Sweden, had cast a shadow over the event. As the death toll from Israel’s military offensive in Gaza has mounted, hundreds of musicians in countries including Sweden, Denmark and Iceland have signed petitions urging the European Broadcasting Union to ban Israel, following a similar decision in 2022 to ban Russia after it invaded Ukraine.

The European Broadcasting Union has repeatedly dismissed the comparison between Israel and Russia. “We understand the concerns and deeply held views around the current conflict in the Middle East,” the union said in a statement this month, but Eurovision was “not a contest between governments.”

At this year’s Eurovision, Israel will be represented by Eden Golan, a 20-year-old pop singer who was selected earlier this month when she won a TV talent show called “Rising Star,” singing an Aerosmith cover. During that show’s final, Golan referred to the roughly 130 hostages Israel believes Hamas is holding in Gaza. “We won’t truly be OK until everyone returns home,” she said.

Which song Golan will sing at Eurovision, however, is not only up to her. Kan has been evaluating potential tracks, and although it submitted “October Rain” for approval, the broadcaster is not scheduled to officially announce Israel’s song until March 10, allowing time for it to be changed, if necessary.

Throughout Eurovision’s history, the European Broadcasting Union has occasionally intervened when it detected political overtones in proposed entries, said Chris West, the author of a history of Eurovision. In 2009, he said, Georgia pulled out of the contest because the organizers objected to a song called “We Don’t Wanna Put In.” The song was seen as a statement against President Vladimir V. Putin of Russia, West said.

And in 2015, Armenia changed the title of its entry “Don’t Deny,” because it was widely interpreted as a reference to Turkey’s denial of the Ottoman Empire’s genocide of Armenians. The song was renamed “Face the Shadow,” West said.

“October Rain” seemed political from its title, West said, but Israel might claim it has nothing to do with last year’s attacks, or even that the country has a right to sing about the impact of Hamas’s atrocities.

“Eurovision’s organizers have a really difficult job of deciding where the line is,” West said.





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Quordle today – hints and answers for Tuesday, January 30 (game #736)

Quordle today - hints and answers for Monday, October 2 (game #616)


It’s time for your daily dose of Quordle hints, plus the answers for both the main game and the Daily Sequence spin off. 

Quordle is the only one of the many Wordle clones that I’m still playing now, around two years after the daily-word-game craze hit the internet, and with good reason: it’s fun, but also difficult.



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Israel Orders Evacuation of Packed Area in Gaza’s Khan Younis: Live Updates

Israel Orders Evacuation of Packed Area in Gaza's Khan Younis: Live Updates


Israel was trying to demolish part of a Palestinian neighborhood as it pursued a plan to create a buffer zone between Gaza and Israel when around 20 Israeli soldiers were killed Monday in an explosion, according to three Israeli officials and an Israeli officer involved in the demolitions.

The explosion on Monday occurred after Gazan militants fired toward a tank guarding an Israeli unit that had been setting explosives inside Palestinian buildings on the border in central Gaza with the intention of demolishing them, according to a news briefing given by the Israeli military on Tuesday. In the firefight, the explosives went off, killing many of the soldiers inside, the military said.

Israel wants to demolish many of the Palestinian buildings close to the border in order to create what they describe as a “security zone,” according to the three officials, who spoke anonymously because they were not authorized to speak publicly about the issue.

Two of the officials said that Israel’s goal was to create a buffer of up to roughly six-tenths of a mile along the entire length of Israel’s roughly 36-mile border with Gaza. At its narrowest point, the territory is less than four miles wide.

Their intention is to make it harder for militants to repeat a raid like that of Oct. 7, in which roughly 1,400 people were killed and abducted, according to Israeli estimates, and which prompted the evacuation of tens of thousands of residents of southern Israel. One of Israel’s war goals is to create conditions that will persuade Israeli evacuees that it is safe to return home. Some of the demolished areas are a few hundred yards from Israeli neighborhoods that were attacked.

Asked about the creation of a buffer zone, the military said its forces were “locating and destroying terror infrastructures embedded, among other things, inside buildings,” which it said was necessary to implement a defense plan for southern Israel.

The military’s chief spokesman, Rear Adm. Daniel Hagari, said in a news briefing on Tuesday that the soldiers who were killed had been involved in an operation to “create the security conditions for the return of the residents of the south to their homes.’’

The idea of a buffer zone gained such momentum in Israeli discourse that the State Department spoke out against it in December, because it would effectively reduce the size of Gaza, a process opposed by the U.S. administration.

John Kirby, a spokesman for the National Security Council, repeated that objection on Tuesday, when asked at a White House news briefing about Israel’s moves to create a buffer zone. “We do not want to see the territory of Gaza reduced in any way,” Mr. Kirby said. “We won’t support that.”

However, Secretary of State Antony J. Blinken, speaking during a visit to Nigeria, said that the United States was open to a temporary buffer zone, though solely to enable Israelis who had fled homes along the Gaza border after Oct. 7 to return.

“If there need to be transitional arrangements to enable that to happen, that’s one thing to happen,” Mr. Blinken said. “But when it comes to the permanent status of Gaza going forward, we’ve been clear, we remain clear about not encroaching on its territory.”

To Palestinians, the practice is cruel and would keep Gazans in an already crowded enclave from being able to return to their homes. Critics of Israeli policy say the practice is part of a wider disregard for civilian housing and property. The majority of Gaza’s buildings have been damaged during the war, according to United Nations estimates, and more than 25,000 Gazans have been killed, according to Gazan officials.

Balakrishnan Rajagopal, the United Nations special rapporteur on the right to adequate housing, said a systematic demolition of Palestinian border homes could constitute a war crime because they pose no immediate threat to Israel.

“There is simply no provision in the Geneva Conventions for what Israel is doing along the border, which is kind of a pre-emptive clearing of property,” Mr. Rajagopal said in a phone interview.

“On a particular property by property basis, Israel can take action — but not on a widespread basis across the entire border,” Mr. Rajagopal said. “Israel, as the occupying power, has an obligation not to engage in what’s called wanton destruction of property.” The military did not respond to a request for comment on the claims.

While Israel has never formally announced the demolition of Palestinian border homes, the concept of a buffer zone lining the length of the Gazan border has been widely discussed by the Israeli news media since early December, when the idea was reported by Reuters.

Israeli ministers have also hinted of plans to create such a buffer zone since the first weeks of the war. Eli Cohen, the foreign minister at the time, said that after the war, “the territory of Gaza will also decrease.”

Days later, Avi Dichter, the agriculture minister, spoke of creating “a margin” along the Gaza border. “No matter who you are, you will never be able to come close to the Israeli border,” Mr. Dichter said.

Gabby Sobelman, Rawan Sheikh Ahmad, Erica L. Green and Michael Crowley contributed reporting.



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Quordle today – hints and answers for Sunday, December 31 (game #706)

Quordle today - hints and answers for Monday, October 2 (game #616)


It’s time for your daily dose of Quordle hints, plus the answers for both the main game and the Daily Sequence spin off. 

Quordle is the only one of the many Wordle clones that I’m still playing now, around 18 months after the daily-word-game craze hit the internet, and with good reason: it’s fun, but also difficult.



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Quordle today – hints and answers for Friday, December 1 (game #676)

Quordle today - hints and answers for Monday, October 2 (game #616)


It’s time for your daily dose of Quordle hints, plus the answers for both the main game and the Daily Sequence spin off. 

Quordle is the only one of the many Wordle clones that I’m still playing now, around 18 months after the daily-word-game craze hit the internet, and with good reason: it’s fun, but also difficult.



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Quordle today – hints and answers for Wednesday, November 1 (game #646)

Quordle today - hints and answers for Monday, October 2 (game #616)


It’s time for your daily dose of Quordle hints, plus the answers for both the main game and the Daily Sequence spin off. 

Quordle is the only one of the many Wordle clones that I’m still playing now, around 18 months after the daily-word-game craze hit the internet, and with good reason: it’s fun, but also difficult.



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