AP News in Brief At 6:04 A.m. EST .
Hamas releases 3 frail-looking Israeli captives for Palestinian detainees under Gaza ceasefire
DEIR AL-BALAH, Gaza Strip (AP) - Hamas-led militants released 3 gaunt, frail-looking Israeli captives and Israel freed almost 200 Palestinian detainees Saturday in the latest exchange of a ceasefire that has actually stopped briefly 16 months of war in Gaza.
The hostages ´ condition and scenes of Hamas requiring them to speak in a handover event triggered outrage in Israel and might increase pressure on Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu to extend the ceasefire beyond its existing six-week stage.
Netanyahu has indicated he would resume the war, even if that suggests leaving lots of captives in captivity. "President Trump entirely agreed with me: We will do whatever to return all the captives, however 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 people taken during 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 captives go back to Bangkok after being held for over a year in Gaza
BANGKOK (AP) - Five Thai workers released 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 released on Jan. 30 as part of an exchange plan.
They were accepted by member of the family, a few of whom cried, 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 released captives.
"We are all very grateful and really delighted that we get to go back to our homeland. All of us would truly like to thank you. I don ´ t know what else to state," Pongsak informed a news conference at the airport.
Maris said the Thai government "never ever 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 states some white South Africans are oppressed, could be transplanted in the US. They state no thanks
CAPE TOWN, South Africa (AP) - Groups representing some of South Africa's white minority reacted Saturday to a plan 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 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 implicated the South African government of enabling violent attacks on white Afrikaner farmers and introducing a land expropriation law that enables it to "seize ethnic minority Afrikaners' agricultural home without settlement."
The South African federal government has actually rejected there are any collective attacks on white farmers and has actually said that Trump's description of the colony law is full 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 ago. They speak Afrikaans, a obtained from Dutch that developed in South Africa, and are unique 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, President Donald Trump keeps cranking out executive orders designed to remake the government while billionaire Elon Musk looks for more ways to overthrow the federal labor force.
Trump likewise provoked - then aborted - trade wars with Canada and Mexico but allowed one with China to move forward. He apparently played down possibly tough political issues while insisting he was major about the United States taking Gaza, clearing out its homeowners and redeveloping the area into "the Riviera of the Middle East." It was a concept that good friend and opponent alike around the world turned down.
Here are some Week 3 takeaways:
Trump has invested 20 days in office, and on nearly every one of them, he has signed executive orders - typically numerous.
Similar To Presidents Barack Obama and Joe Biden before him, Trump used Inauguration Day to put pen to paper on actions indicated to clean out great deals of his predecessor's policies. Trump also released 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 law enforcement officers are killed in forest fight in main India
PATNA, India (AP) - A minimum of 31 thought Maoist rebels and two police officials were killed on Sunday in the most dangerous fight up until now this year in main India, parentingliteracy.com authorities said.
Hundreds of authorities and paramilitary soldiers released an operation in the forests of the Indravati area of Chhattisgarh state based upon intelligence that a great deal of rebels had gathered there, said state authorities Inspector General Pattilingam Sundarraj.
Sundarraj said as the troops carried out a search operation fighting emerged in the forest, eliminating a minimum of 31 insurgents and two cops authorities. Two other cops were hurt. He said search operations were continuing in the area and the troops had recovered some arms and ammo, consisting of automated rifles.
There was no instant declaration from the rebels.
Sunday's combating is the greatest so far this year and the second significant clash in less than a month in Chhattisgarh, according to cops officer Jitendra Yadav.
2 mass graves with bodies of almost 50 migrants discovered in southeastern Libya
CAIRO (AP) - Libya authorities revealed nearly 50 bodies today from 2 mass graves in the country ´ s southeastern desert, authorities said Sunday, in the current disaster involving people seeking to reach Europe through the chaos-stricken North African nation.
The 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, equipifieds.com adding that authorities took them for autopsy.
Authorities posted images on its Facebook page showing law enforcement officer and medics digging in the sand and recovering dead bodies that were wrapped in blankets.
The al-Abreen charity, which assists migrants in eastern and southern Libya, said that some were apparently shot and eliminated before being buried in the mass tomb.
A different 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 individuals were buried in the grave, he included. Authorities were still browsing the location.
Rescuers hunt for 28 people still missing out on after a landslide in southwest China; 1 body recovered
BEIJING (AP) - Emergency groups in China's southwestern Sichuan province battled against time Sunday to find 28 people missing out on after a rain-triggered landslide eliminated a single person and buried homes.
Nearly 1,000 personnel, consisting of armed cops, 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 browsed through the remains of collapsed structures, utilizing drones and life-detection radars to find any indications of life with the aid of local authorities who were familiar with the area, state broadcaster CCTV said.
They saved two hurt individuals and evacuated about 360 other individuals after 10 houses and a production structure were buried, CCTV reported.
At a press conference Sunday, authorities said preliminary evaluations associated the catastrophe to recent heavy rainfall and regional geological conditions. They said these aspects transformed a landslide into a particles circulation, leading to a build-up of particles stretching about 1.2 kilometers (majority a mile) in length, with a total volume surpassing 100,000 cubic meters (3.5 million cubic feet).
Chinese Vice Premier Liu Guozhong was at the site to assist the rescue operation and went to the affected locals. He advised authorities to make every effort to browse for the missing individuals, according to main news firm 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 thought about a key test for Prime Minister Albin Kurti as talks on stabilizing ties with competing Serbia remain stalled and foreign funding for one of Europe's poorest countries 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 needed bulk 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 criminal activities, and the Democratic League of Kosovo, or LDK, the earliest 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, enhance education and health services, and battle hardship. However, they did not explain where the cash would come from, nor how they would draw in more foreign financial investment.
Kurti has been at odds with Western powers after his Cabinet took a number of actions that raised stress 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 urged the federal 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 detectives are trying to identify what triggered the little commuter aircraft to decrease in the icy Bering Sea.
The single-engine turboprop airplane was traveling from Unalakleet to the center community 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 recuperating the remains of those eliminated 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 one of 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 regularly arranged commuter trip, and the aircraft went missing about 30 miles (48 kilometers) southeast of Nome.
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Trump's AI ambition and China's DeepSeek eclipse an AI summit in Paris
PARIS (AP) - The geopolitics of expert system will remain in focus at a major summit in France where world leaders, executives and professionals will work out promises on directing the advancement of the rapidly advancing technology.
It's the most recent in a series of global dialogues 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 very first journey abroad given that taking office - will attend the Paris AI Action Summit starting Feb. 10, while China's President Xi Jinping will be sending his unique envoy, signaling high stakes for the conference.
Here's a breakdown:
Heads of state and disgaeawiki.info top government officials, tech employers and researchers are collecting in Paris for the two-day summit cohosted by French President Emmanuel Macron and Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi. The event aims to address how to harness expert system ´ s potential so that it benefits everybody, while containing the technology ´ s myriad threats.