GitLab

Hamas releases 3 frail-looking Israeli captives for Palestinian detainees under Gaza ceasefire

DEIR AL-BALAH, Gaza Strip (AP) - Hamas-led militants launched three gaunt, frail-looking Israeli hostages and Israel freed almost 200 Palestinian detainees Saturday in the most current exchange of a ceasefire that has paused 16 months of war in Gaza.

The hostages ´ condition and scenes of Hamas requiring them to speak in a handover event stimulated outrage in Israel and could increase pressure on Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu to extend the ceasefire beyond its current six-week stage.

Netanyahu has actually indicated he would resume the war, even if that means leaving dozens of captives in captivity. "President Trump totally agreed with me: We will do whatever to return all the captives, but Hamas will not exist," Netanyahu said after the exchange.

Civilians Eli Sharabi, 52; Ohad Ben Ami, 56; and Or Levy, 34, were among about 250 individuals taken throughout the Hamas-led attack on Israel on Oct. 7, 2023, that triggered the war.

Israelis' happiness turned to shock and tears when they saw their emaciated state.

Released Thai hostages return to Bangkok after being held for over a year in Gaza

BANGKOK (AP) - Five Thai workers launched after being imprisoned for over a year in Gaza arrived in Bangkok on Sunday.

Sarusak Rumnao, 32, Watchara Sriaoun, 33, Sathian Suwannakham, 35, Pongsak Thaenna, 36, and Bannawat Saethao, 27, were released on Jan. 30 as part of an exchange arrangement.

They were embraced by household members, a few of whom wept, in the arrivals hall at Suvarnabhumi airport. Thai Foreign Minister Maris Sagniampongsa and the Israeli Ambassador to Thailand Orna Sagiv were both at the airport to welcome home the freed hostages.

"We are all really grateful and really delighted that we get to return to our homeland. All of us would truly like to thank you. I wear ´ t know what else to say," Pongsak told a news conference at the airport.

Maris said the Thai government "never ever quit hope and here is the result today. The tears of joy are our encouragement." He included that Bangkok would continue working to secure the release of the remaining Thai captive.

Trump states some white South Africans are oppressed, might be transplanted in the US. They say no thanks

CAPE TOWN, South Africa (AP) - Groups representing some of South Africa's white minority reacted Saturday to a strategy by President Donald Trump to provide them refugee status and resettlement in the United States by stating: thanks, however no thanks.

The plan was detailed in an executive order Trump signed Friday that stopped all aid and financial assistance to South Africa as penalty for what the Trump administration said were "rights violations" by the government against a few of its white residents.

The Trump administration accused the South African government of permitting violent attacks on white Afrikaner farmers and presenting a land expropriation law that enables it to "take ethnic minority Afrikaners' farming home without settlement."

The South African federal government has actually rejected there are any concerted attacks on white farmers and has actually said that Trump's description of the new land law has lots of misinformation and distortions.

Afrikaners are come down from mainly Dutch, however also French and German colonial settlers who initially got here in South Africa more than 300 years back. They speak Afrikaans, a language obtained from Dutch that established in South Africa, and stand out from other white South Africans who come from British or other backgrounds.

Trump's 3rd week saw more executive orders, a trade war that wasn't and a Mideast shock

WASHINGTON (AP) - Three weeks in, President Donald Trump keeps cranking out executive orders created to remake the federal government while billionaire Elon Musk hunts for more ways to overthrow the federal workforce.

Trump also provoked - then cancelled - trade wars with Canada and Mexico however permitted one with China to move forward. He seemingly minimized possibly tough political issues while insisting he was severe about the United States seizing Gaza, clearing out its homeowners and redeveloping the area into "the Riviera of the Middle East." It was an idea that good friend and enemy alike worldwide declined.

Here are some Week 3 takeaways:

Trump has actually spent 20 days in workplace, and on nearly every one of them, he has signed executive orders - frequently several.

Much Like Presidents Barack Obama and Joe Biden before him, Trump used Inauguration Day to put pen to paper on actions suggested to erase big numbers of his predecessor's policies. Trump likewise issued Day 1 orders to pardon most members of the mob that attacked the Capitol on Jan. 6, 2021, withdraw the U.S. from the Paris environment accord and keep TikTok operating.

31 believed Maoist rebels and 2 policemans are eliminated in forest battle in main India

PATNA, India (AP) - At least 31 presumed Maoist rebels and 2 police authorities were killed on Sunday in the deadliest battle up until now this year in main India, cops said.

Hundreds of police and paramilitary soldiers introduced an operation in the forests of the Indravati location of Chhattisgarh state based upon intelligence that large number of rebels had collected there, said state police Inspector General Pattilingam Sundarraj.

Sundarraj said as the soldiers performed a search operation battling appeared in the forest, eliminating a minimum of 31 insurgents and two cops authorities. Two other authorities were injured. He said search operations were continuing in the area and the soldiers had actually recovered some arms and ammunition, consisting of automatic rifles.

There was no instant declaration from the rebels.

Sunday's battling is the most significant so far this year and the 2nd significant clash in less than a month in Chhattisgarh, according to authorities officer Jitendra Yadav.

2 mass graves with bodies of almost 50 migrants discovered in southeastern Libya

CAIRO (AP) - Libya almost 50 bodies today from two mass graves in the nation ´ s southeastern desert, authorities said Sunday, in the most recent tragedy involving individuals seeking to reach Europe through the chaos-stricken North African nation.

The very first mass tomb with 19 bodies was discovered Friday in a farm in the southeastern city of Kufra, the security directorate said in a declaration, adding that authorities took them for autopsy.

Authorities published images on its Facebook page revealing policeman and medics digging in the sand and recuperating dead bodies that were wrapped in blankets.

The al-Abreen charity, which helps migrants in eastern and southern Libya, said that some were obviously shot and killed before being buried in the mass grave.

A separate mass tomb with a minimum of 30 bodies was also found in Kufra after raiding a human trafficking center, according to Mohamed al-Fadeil, head of the security chamber in Kufra. Survivors said nearly 70 individuals were buried in the grave, he included. Authorities were still browsing the location.

Rescuers hunt for 28 individuals still missing after a landslide in southwest China; 1 body recuperated

BEIJING (AP) - Emergency groups in China's southwestern Sichuan province battled against time Sunday to locate 28 people missing after a rain-triggered landslide eliminated one individual and buried homes.

Nearly 1,000 workers, including armed authorities, firefighters and doctor, continued to operate in the rescue operation following the landslide in the village of Jinping in Junlian county on Saturday. Some officers navigated through the remains of collapsed structures, using drones and life-detection radars to locate any indications of life with the aid of local authorities who recognized with the area, state broadcaster CCTV said.

They saved 2 injured people and evacuated about 360 other individuals after 10 homes and a production structure were buried, CCTV reported.

At a press conference Sunday, authorities said initial assessments associated the disaster to recent heavy rainfall and local geological conditions. They said these elements changed a landslide into a particles circulation, setiathome.berkeley.edu resulting in an accumulation of particles stretching about 1.2 kilometers (majority a mile) in length, with a total volume going beyond 100,000 cubic meters (3.5 million cubic feet).

Chinese Vice Premier Liu Guozhong was at the site to guide the rescue operation and went to the affected locals. He urged authorities to strive to look for the missing individuals, according to main news firm Xinhua.

Kosovo votes for new parliament as foreign aid diminishes and talks with Serbia are stalled

PRISTINA, Kosovo (AP) - Kosovars cast their votes Sunday in a parliamentary election thought about a crucial test for Prime Minister Albin Kurti as talks on stabilizing ties with rival Serbia remain stalled and foreign financing for one of Europe's poorest nations in concern.

Kurti ´ s left-wing Vetevendosje!, or Self-Determination Movement Party, is seen as the front-runner however is not expected to win the necessary majority to govern alone, leaving open the possibility the other two competitors sign up with ranks if he fails to form a Cabinet.

The other oppositions are the Democratic Party of Kosovo, or PDK, whose main leaders are detained at a global criminal tribunal at The Hague implicated of war crimes, and the Democratic League of Kosovo, or LDK, the earliest party in the nation that lost much of its assistance after the death in 2006 of its leader, Ibrahim Rugova.

The parties made big-ticket pledges to increase public salaries and pensions, enhance education and health services, and fight poverty. However, they did not explain where the money would originate from, nor how they would draw in more foreign financial investment.

Kurti has actually been at chances with Western powers after his Cabinet took several steps that raised tensions with Serbia and ethnic Serbs, consisting of the restriction on making use of the Serbian currency and dinar transfers from Serbia to Kosovo ´ s ethnic Serb minority that depends on Belgrade ´ s social services and payments. The U.S., the European Union and the NATO-led stabilization force KFOR have actually prompted the government in Pristina to refrain from unilateral actions, fearing the revival of inter-ethnic conflict.

Here's what we know about a commuter airplane crash in Alaska that killed 10 individuals

JUNEAU, Alaska (AP) - Authorities are working to recover the wreckage of an airplane crash in western Alaska that eliminated 10 individuals while investigators are attempting to determine what triggered the little commuter aircraft to go down in the icy Bering Sea.

The single-engine turboprop airplane was taking a trip from Unalakleet to the center neighborhood of Nome when it disappeared Thursday afternoon. The Bering Air airplane was discovered the next day after a substantial search. Nine travelers and the pilot were eliminated.

Crews on Saturday was successful in recuperating the remains of those eliminated in the crash from a drifting ice floe before the awaited beginning of high winds and snow.

Here are things to learn about the airplane crash, which is among the most dangerous airplane crashes in the state in 25 years.

Officials said contact with the Cessna Caravan was lost less than an hour after it left Unalakleet on Thursday. Authorities said the flight was a regularly arranged commuter journey, and the aircraft went missing out on about 30 miles (48 kilometers) southeast of Nome.

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Trump's AI ambition and China's DeepSeek overshadow an AI top in Paris

PARIS (AP) - The geopolitics of synthetic intelligence will remain in focus at a significant summit in France where world leaders, executives and experts will work out pledges on directing the advancement of the rapidly advancing technology.

It's the most recent in a series of international discussions around AI governance, however one that comes at a fresh inflection point as China's buzzy and economical DeepSeek chatbot shocks the industry.

U.S. Vice President JD Vance - making his first trip abroad considering that taking workplace - will attend the Paris AI Action Summit beginning Feb. 10, while China's President Xi Jinping will be sending his special envoy, signaling high stakes for the conference.

Here's a breakdown:

Presidents and top government authorities, tech employers and scientists are gathering in Paris for the two-day top cohosted by French President Emmanuel Macron and Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi. The occasion aims to address how to harness synthetic intelligence ´ s potential so that it benefits everybody, while containing the innovation ´ s myriad risks.