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

DEIR AL-BALAH, Gaza Strip (AP) - Hamas-led militants launched 3 gaunt, frail-looking Israeli captives and Israel freed nearly 200 Palestinian detainees Saturday in the most current exchange of a ceasefire that has stopped briefly 16 months of war in Gaza.

The captives ´ condition and scenes of Hamas forcing them to speak in a handover event stimulated outrage in Israel and kenpoguy.com could increase pressure on Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu to extend the ceasefire beyond its present six-week phase.

Netanyahu has actually signified he would resume the war, even if that implies leaving dozens of hostages in captivity. "President Trump completely agreed with me: We will do everything to return all the captives, however Hamas will not be there," Netanyahu said after the exchange.

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

Israelis' joy 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 held captive 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 freed on Jan. 30 as part of an exchange arrangement.

They were embraced by relative, a few of whom sobbed, 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 released 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 state," Pongsak informed a press conference at the airport.

Maris said the Thai government "never quit hope and here is the result today. The tears of pleasure are our motivation." He included that Bangkok would continue working to protect the release of the remaining Thai hostage.

Trump says some white South Africans are oppressed, could be resettled in the US. They say no thanks

CAPE TOWN, South Africa (AP) - Groups representing some of South Africa's white minority responded 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 strategy 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 offenses" by the government against a few of its white citizens.

The Trump administration accused the South African federal government of permitting violent attacks on white Afrikaner farmers and presenting a land expropriation law that allows it to "seize 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 said that Trump's description of the colony law is complete of false information and distortions.

Afrikaners are come down from mainly Dutch, but likewise French and German colonial inhabitants who first showed up in South Africa more than 300 years earlier. They speak Afrikaans, a language obtained from Dutch that established in South Africa, and are unique from other white South Africans who originate from British or other backgrounds.

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

WASHINGTON (AP) - Three weeks in, President Donald Trump keeps cranking out executive orders created to remake the federal government while billionaire Elon Musk searches for more methods to upend the federal labor force.

Trump also provoked - then called off - trade wars with Canada and Mexico however allowed one with China to move on. He apparently downplayed possibly tough political concerns while insisting he was major about the United States seizing Gaza, clearing out its homeowners and redeveloping the location into "the Riviera of the Middle East." It was an idea that pal and opponent alike around the globe rejected.

Here are some Week 3 takeaways:

Trump has invested 20 days in workplace, and on almost every one of them, he has signed executive orders - frequently a number of.

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

31 suspected Maoist rebels and 2 policemans are killed in forest combat in main India

PATNA, India (AP) - A minimum of 31 thought Maoist rebels and 2 cops officials were killed on Sunday in the deadliest battle so far this year in main India, cops said.

Hundreds of cops and paramilitary soldiers released an operation in the forests of the Indravati area of Chhattisgarh state based on intelligence that large number of rebels had actually gathered there, said state authorities Inspector General Pattilingam Sundarraj.

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

There was no instant declaration from the rebels.

Sunday's fighting is the most significant up until now this year and the second major clash in less than a month in Chhattisgarh, according to cops officer Jitendra Yadav.

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

CAIRO (AP) - Libya authorities uncovered nearly 50 bodies this week from two mass graves in the country ´ s southeastern desert, authorities said Sunday, in the most recent tragedy involving people seeking to reach Europe through the chaos-stricken North African country.

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

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

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

A separate mass grave with at least 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 almost 70 people were buried in the grave, he added. Authorities were still browsing the area.

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

BEIJING (AP) - Emergency teams in China's southwestern Sichuan province battled against time Sunday to locate 28 individuals missing after a rain-triggered landslide eliminated a single person and buried homes.

Nearly 1,000 personnel, including armed cops, firefighters and physician, continued to operate in the rescue operation following the landslide in the town of Jinping in Junlian county on Saturday. Some officers navigated through the remains of collapsed buildings, using drones and life-detection radars to locate any indications of life with the aid of regional officials who were familiar with the area, state broadcaster CCTV said.

They rescued 2 injured individuals and left about 360 other people after 10 homes and a manufacturing building were buried, CCTV reported.

At a news conference Sunday, authorities said preliminary assessments associated the catastrophe to current heavy rainfall and local geological conditions. They said these aspects transformed a landslide into a debris flow, leading to an accumulation of particles stretching about 1.2 kilometers (over half a mile) in length, with an overall volume exceeding 100,000 cubic meters (3.5 million cubic feet).

Chinese Vice Premier Liu Guozhong was at the website to direct the rescue operation and went to the impacted citizens. He prompted authorities to make every effort to browse for bphomesteading.com the missing individuals, according to main news agency Xinhua.

Kosovo elect new parliament as foreign aid dwindles and talks with Serbia are stalled

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

Kurti ´ s left-wing Vetevendosje!, or Self-Determination Movement Party, is viewed as the front-runner but is not expected to win the required majority to govern alone, leaving open the possibility the other 2 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 accused of war crimes, and the Democratic League of Kosovo, or LDK, the oldest party in the country that lost much of its assistance after the death in 2006 of its leader, Ibrahim Rugova.

The celebrations made big-ticket pledges to increase public wages and pensions, improve education and health services, and battle poverty. However, they did not explain where the cash would come from, nor how they would bring in more foreign investment.

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

Here's what we understand about a commuter airplane crash in Alaska that eliminated 10 individuals

JUNEAU, Alaska (AP) - Authorities are working to recuperate the wreckage of an airplane crash in western Alaska that killed 10 people while private investigators are trying to identify what triggered the little commuter aircraft to decrease in the icy Bering Sea.

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

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

Here are things to understand about the airplane crash, which is among the deadliest 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 frequently set up commuter journey, and the aircraft went missing out on about 30 miles (48 kilometers) southeast of Nome.

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Trump's AI aspiration and China's DeepSeek eclipse an AI top in Paris

PARIS (AP) - The geopolitics of expert system will remain in focus at a major summit in France where world leaders, executives and experts will work out promises on assisting the development of the quickly advancing innovation.

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

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

Here's a breakdown:

Heads of state and leading federal government officials, tech managers and researchers are collecting in Paris for the two-day summit cohosted by French President Macron and Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi. The occasion aims to attend to how to harness artificial intelligence ´ s prospective so that it benefits everyone, while containing the technology ´ s myriad dangers.