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

DEIR AL-BALAH, Gaza Strip (AP) - Hamas-led militants released three gaunt, frail-looking Israeli hostages and Israel released almost 200 Palestinian detainees Saturday in the latest 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 triggered outrage in Israel and might increase pressure on Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu to extend the ceasefire beyond its existing six-week phase.

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

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

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

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

BANGKOK (AP) - Five Thai workers released after being imprisoned for over a year in Gaza showed up 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 plan.

They were embraced by member of the family, 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 very grateful and really pleased that we get to go back to our homeland. We all would really like to thank you. I wear ´ t understand what else to state," Pongsak informed a press conference at the airport.

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

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

CAPE TOWN, South Africa (AP) - Groups representing a few of South Africa's white minority responded Saturday to a strategy by President Donald Trump to offer 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 assistance to South Africa as penalty for what the Trump administration said were "rights violations" by the federal government against a few of its white citizens.

The Trump administration accused the South African government of permitting violent attacks on white Afrikaner farmers and presenting a land expropriation law that allows it to "seize ethnic minority Afrikaners' agricultural home 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 come down from mainly Dutch, but likewise French and German colonial settlers who first arrived in South Africa more than 300 years back. They speak Afrikaans, a language obtained from Dutch that developed in South Africa, and are distinct 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 shock

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

Trump also provoked - then called off - trade wars with Canada and Mexico but allowed one with China to move forward. He seemingly minimized potentially thorny political concerns while insisting he was major about the United States taking Gaza, clearing out its locals and redeveloping the area into "the Riviera of the Middle East." It was a concept that pal and enemy alike worldwide declined.

Here are some Week 3 takeaways:

Trump has invested 20 days in workplace, and on almost every one of them, he has actually signed executive orders - typically numerous.

Much Like Presidents Barack Obama and Joe Biden before him, Trump used Inauguration Day to put pen to paper on actions meant to erase great deals of his predecessor's policies. Trump likewise provided 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 climate accord and keep TikTok operating.

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

PATNA, India (AP) - At least 31 presumed Maoist rebels and two police authorities were killed on Sunday in the most dangerous combat so far this year in main India, police said.

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

Sundarraj said as the soldiers conducted a search operation combating emerged in the forest, killing a minimum of 31 insurgents and 2 cops authorities. Two other cops were injured. He said search operations were continuing in the area and the troops had actually recovered some arms and ammunition, including automated rifles.

There was no instant declaration from the rebels.

Sunday's battling is the greatest up until now this year and the 2nd major clash in less than a month in Chhattisgarh, according to policemans Jitendra Yadav.

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

CAIRO (AP) - Libya authorities discovered almost 50 bodies this week from 2 mass graves in the nation ´ s southeastern desert, authorities said Sunday, in the current disaster 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, adding that authorities took them for autopsy.

Authorities published images on its Facebook page showing cops 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 obviously shot and killed before being buried in the mass tomb.

A different mass grave with a minimum of 30 bodies was likewise 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 people were buried in the grave, he added. Authorities were still searching the area.

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

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

Nearly 1,000 workers, including armed authorities, firefighters and doctor, continued to work 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 structures, utilizing drones and life-detection radars to locate any indications of life with the aid of local authorities who were familiar with the location, state broadcaster CCTV said.

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

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

Chinese Vice Premier Liu Guozhong was at the site to assist the rescue operation and visited the impacted residents. He urged authorities to strive to look for the missing people, according to main news agency Xinhua.

Kosovo elect brand-new parliament as foreign aid diminishes and talks with Serbia are stalled

PRISTINA, Kosovo (AP) - Kosovars cast their votes Sunday in a parliamentary election considered an essential test for Prime Minister Albin Kurti as talks on normalizing ties with competing Serbia remain stalled and foreign financing for among Europe's poorest countries in concern.

Kurti ´ s left-wing Vetevendosje!, or Self-Determination Movement Party, forum.pinoo.com.tr is viewed as the front-runner however is not expected to win the necessary majority to govern alone, exposing 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 accused of war criminal activities, 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 celebrations made big-ticket promises to increase public salaries and pensions, improve education and health services, and fight hardship. However, they did not explain where the money would come from, nor how they would attract 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, including the restriction on the usage 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 prompted the 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 killed 10 individuals while investigators are attempting to identify what triggered the small commuter aircraft to decrease in the icy Bering Sea.

The single-engine turboprop airplane was traveling from Unalakleet to the center neighborhood of Nome when it vanished Thursday afternoon. The Bering Air airplane was found the next day after a comprehensive search. Nine passengers and the pilot were eliminated.

Crews on Saturday was successful in recovering the remains of those eliminated in the crash from a wandering ice floe before the awaited start of high winds and snow.

Here are things to understand 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 set up 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 eclipse an AI summit in Paris

PARIS (AP) - The geopolitics of expert system will remain in focus at a major top in France where world leaders, executives and experts will hammer out pledges on guiding the advancement of the quickly advancing technology.

It's the most current in a series of worldwide discussions around AI governance, but one that comes at a fresh inflection point as China's buzzy and budget-friendly DeepSeek chatbot shocks the market.

U.S. Vice President JD Vance - making his very first trip abroad given that taking workplace - will go to the Paris AI Action Summit beginning Feb. 10, while China's President Xi Jinping will be sending his unique envoy, signifying high stakes for the conference.

Here's a breakdown:

Heads of state and top government authorities, tech employers and scientists are collecting in Paris for the two-day top cohosted by French President Emmanuel Macron and Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi. The event aims to resolve how to harness expert system ´ s potential so that it benefits everyone, while containing the technology ´ s myriad threats.