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

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

The hostages ´ condition and scenes of Hamas forcing them to speak in a handover ceremony sparked outrage in Israel and 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 suggests leaving dozens of hostages in captivity. "President Trump entirely 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 during 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 employees released after being held hostage 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 accepted by member of the family, some 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 invite home the freed captives.

"We are all very grateful and really pleased that we get to return to our homeland. All of us would really like to thank you. I don ´ t understand what else to state," Pongsak told a press conference at the airport.

Maris said the Thai government "never quit hope and here is the outcome today. The tears of happiness are our motivation." He added that Bangkok would continue working to secure the release of the remaining Thai captive.

Trump says some white South Africans are oppressed, could be resettled in the US. They state 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 use them refugee status and resettlement in the United States by stating: thanks, but no thanks.

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

The Trump administration accused the South African government of allowing violent on white Afrikaner farmers and introducing a land expropriation law that allows it to "seize ethnic minority Afrikaners' agricultural property without settlement."

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

Afrikaners are descended from mainly Dutch, however also French and German colonial settlers who initially showed up in South Africa more than 300 years earlier. 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 jolt

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

Trump also provoked - then cancelled - trade wars with Canada and Mexico however allowed one with China to move forward. He relatively made light of potentially thorny political problems while insisting he was severe about the United States seizing Gaza, emptying out its homeowners and redeveloping the area into "the Riviera of the Middle East." It was an idea that friend and enemy alike all over the world rejected.

Here are some Week 3 takeaways:

Trump has actually invested 20 days in office, and on nearly each of them, he has signed executive orders - often numerous.

Much Like Presidents Barack Obama and Joe Biden before him, Trump utilized Inauguration Day to put pen to paper on actions meant to clean out great deals of his predecessor's policies. Trump also released Day 1 orders to pardon most members of the mob that assaulted the Capitol on Jan. 6, demo.qkseo.in 2021, withdraw the U.S. from the Paris environment accord and keep TikTok functioning.

31 believed Maoist rebels and 2 authorities officers are eliminated in forest combat in main India

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

Hundreds of authorities and paramilitary soldiers launched an operation in the forests of the Indravati area of Chhattisgarh state based upon intelligence that a great deal of rebels had actually collected there, said state authorities Inspector General Pattilingam Sundarraj.

Sundarraj said as the troops conducted a search operation fighting appeared in the forest, eliminating a minimum of 31 insurgents and 2 authorities officials. Two other authorities were hurt. He said search operations were continuing in the location and the soldiers had recovered some arms and ammunition, including automatic rifles.

There was no immediate statement 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 law enforcement officers Jitendra Yadav.

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

CAIRO (AP) - Libya authorities revealed almost 50 bodies today from 2 mass graves in the nation ´ s southeastern desert, officials said Sunday, in the newest disaster involving people seeking to reach Europe through the chaos-stricken North African country.

The very first mass grave with 19 bodies was found Friday in a farm in the southeastern city of Kufra, the security directorate said in a statement, adding 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 wrapped in blankets.

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

A separate mass grave with a minimum of 30 bodies was also discovered 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 tomb, he included. Authorities were still searching the area.

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

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

Nearly 1,000 workers, including armed authorities, firemens and physician, continued to work 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, utilizing drones and life-detection radars to locate any signs of life with the aid of regional officials who recognized with the location, state broadcaster CCTV said.

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

At a press conference Sunday, authorities said initial evaluations attributed the catastrophe to recent heavy rainfall and local geological conditions. They said these elements changed a landslide into a particles flow, resulting in an accumulation of particles extending about 1.2 kilometers (majority a mile) in length, lespoetesbizarres.free.fr with an overall volume surpassing 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 residents. He prompted authorities to strive to look for the missing individuals, according to main news agency Xinhua.

Kosovo elect brand-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 normalizing ties with rival Serbia remain stalled and mediawiki.hcah.in foreign funding for among 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 required majority to govern alone, leaving open the possibility the other 2 contenders join 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 worldwide criminal tribunal at The Hague implicated of war criminal offenses, and the Democratic League of Kosovo, or LDK, the earliest celebration in the country that lost much of its assistance after the death in 2006 of its leader, Ibrahim Rugova.

The parties made big-ticket promises to increase public salaries and pensions, improve education and health services, and battle poverty. However, they did not explain where the money would come from, nor how they would draw in more foreign investment.

Kurti has actually been at chances with Western powers after his Cabinet took a number of actions that raised stress with Serbia and ethnic Serbs, including the ban on using 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 advised the federal government in Pristina to refrain from unilateral actions, fearing the revival of inter-ethnic dispute.

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

JUNEAU, Alaska (AP) - Authorities are working to recuperate the wreckage of an airplane crash in western Alaska that eliminated 10 people while detectives are trying to determine what triggered the small 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 vanished Thursday afternoon. The Bering Air airplane was found the next day after an extensive search. Nine travelers and the pilot were eliminated.

Crews on Saturday prospered in recovering the remains of those killed in the crash from a drifting ice floe before the awaited onset of high winds and snow.

Here are things to understand about the airplane crash, which is one of 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 scheduled commuter journey, and the aircraft went missing about 30 miles (48 kilometers) southeast of Nome.

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Trump's AI aspiration and China's DeepSeek overshadow an AI summit in Paris

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

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

U.S. Vice President JD Vance - making his first journey abroad considering that taking workplace - will go to the Paris AI Action Summit starting Feb. 10, sitiosecuador.com while China's President Xi Jinping will be sending his special envoy, signaling high stakes for the meeting.

Here's a breakdown:

Heads of state and top government authorities, tech bosses and scientists are gathering in Paris for the two-day top cohosted by French President Emmanuel Macron and Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi. The event aims to address how to harness artificial intelligence ´ s possible so that it benefits everybody, while containing the technology ´ s myriad risks.