GitLab

Hamas launches 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 captives and Israel freed almost 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 requiring them to speak in a handover event sparked outrage in Israel and could increase pressure on Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu to extend the ceasefire beyond its current six-week phase.

Netanyahu has actually indicated he would resume the war, even if that implies leaving lots of hostages 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 gratisafhalen.be Or Levy, 34, were among about 250 people taken throughout the Hamas-led attack on Israel on Oct. 7, 2023, that stimulated the war.

Israelis' delight 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 launched after being held captive 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 released on Jan. 30 as part of an exchange plan.

They were embraced by member of the family, some 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 delighted that we get to return to our homeland. All of us would really like to thank you. I wear ´ t know what else to state," Pongsak told a press conference at the airport.

Maris said the Thai federal government "never ever gave up hope and here is the outcome today. The tears of delight are our support." He added that Bangkok would continue working to protect the release of the remaining Thai captive.

Trump states some white South Africans are oppressed, might be transplanted 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, however no thanks.

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

The Trump administration implicated the South African government of allowing violent attacks on white Afrikaner farmers and introducing a land expropriation law that enables it to "take ethnic minority Afrikaners' agricultural home without payment."

The South African federal government has actually rejected there are any collective 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 also French and German colonial settlers who first got here in South Africa more than 300 years ago. They speak Afrikaans, a language obtained from Dutch that developed in South Africa, and stand out 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 designed to remake the federal government while billionaire Elon Musk hunts for more methods to overthrow the federal workforce.

Trump likewise provoked - then called off - trade wars with Canada and Mexico however permitted one with China to move forward. He relatively made light of possibly thorny political issues while insisting he was severe about the United States seizing Gaza, clearing out its citizens and redeveloping the area into "the Riviera of the Middle East." It was a concept that buddy and opponent alike worldwide turned down.

Here are some Week 3 takeaways:

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

Just like Presidents Barack Obama and Joe Biden before him, Trump utilized Inauguration Day to put pen to paper on actions meant to eliminate 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, 2021, withdraw the U.S. from the Paris environment accord and keep TikTok operating.

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

PATNA, India (AP) - At least 31 suspected Maoist rebels and 2 authorities officials were eliminated on Sunday in the most dangerous combat so far this year in main India, authorities said.

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

Sundarraj said as the troops conducted a search operation battling appeared in the forest, eliminating at least 31 insurgents and two police officials. Two other cops were hurt. He said search operations were continuing in the area and the soldiers had recuperated some arms and ammunition, including automated rifles.

There was no instant declaration from the rebels.

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

2 mass graves with bodies of nearly 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 including people looking for to reach Europe through the chaos-stricken North African nation.

The very 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 showing law enforcement officer 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 eliminated before being buried in the mass grave.

A separate mass grave with at least 30 bodies was likewise discovered 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 tomb, he added. 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 out on after a rain-triggered landslide eliminated a single person and buried homes.

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

They rescued two hurt people and left about 360 other individuals after 10 houses and a production structure were buried, CCTV reported.

At a news conference Sunday, authorities said preliminary evaluations attributed the disaster to current heavy rainfall and regional geological conditions. They said these factors transformed a landslide into a particles flow, leading to a build-up of particles extending 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 direct the rescue operation and went to the affected citizens. He advised authorities to make every effort to browse for the missing individuals, according to main news company Xinhua.

Kosovo choose 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 rival Serbia remain stalled and foreign financing for one of Europe's poorest countries in question.

Kurti ´ s left-wing Vetevendosje!, or Self-Determination Movement Party, is viewed as the front-runner however is not expected to win the essential 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 oldest party in the nation that lost much of its support 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 battle poverty. However, they did not explain where the cash would originate from, nor how they would attract more foreign financial investment.

Kurti has been at odds with Western powers after his Cabinet took numerous actions that raised tensions with Serbia and ethnic Serbs, including the ban 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 actually prompted 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 individuals while investigators are attempting 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 hub neighborhood of Nome when it vanished Thursday afternoon. The Bering Air airplane was discovered the next day after a comprehensive search. Nine travelers and the pilot were killed.

Crews on Saturday was successful in recovering the remains of those killed in the crash from a wandering ice floe before the awaited beginning 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 routinely arranged commuter trip, 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 top in Paris

PARIS (AP) - The geopolitics of synthetic intelligence will remain in focus at a significant top in France where world leaders, executives and experts will hammer out pledges on guiding the advancement of the innovation.

It's the latest in a series of worldwide discussions around AI governance, but 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 since taking office - will go to the Paris AI Action Summit starting Feb. 10, orcz.com while China's President Xi Jinping will be sending his special envoy, indicating high stakes for the meeting.

Here's a breakdown:

Heads of state and top federal 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 resolve how to harness synthetic intelligence ´ s possible so that it benefits everybody, while containing the innovation ´ s myriad risks.