AP News in Brief At 6:04 A.m. EST .
Hamas launches 3 frail-looking Israeli hostages 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 most recent exchange of a ceasefire that has paused 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 might increase pressure on Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu to extend the ceasefire beyond its current six-week phase.
Netanyahu has signaled he would resume the war, even if that suggests leaving lots of captives in captivity. "President Trump completely agreed with me: We will do everything to return all the hostages, but Hamas will not exist," Netanyahu said after the exchange.
Civilians Eli Sharabi, 52; Ohad Ben Ami, 56; and Or Levy, 34, were amongst about 250 people taken during the Hamas-led attack on Israel on Oct. 7, 2023, that stimulated 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 workers released after being held hostage for over a year in Gaza showed up in Bangkok on Sunday.
Sarusak Rumnao, 32, users.atw.hu Watchara Sriaoun, 33, Sathian Suwannakham, 35, Pongsak Thaenna, 36, and Bannawat Saethao, 27, were released on Jan. 30 as part of an exchange arrangement.
They were welcomed by relative, 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 welcome home the freed captives.
"We are all really grateful and very happy that we get to go back to our homeland. We all would truly 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 result today. The tears of joy are our motivation." He added that Bangkok would continue working to secure the release of the remaining Thai hostage.
Trump says 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 strategy by President Donald Trump to use them refugee status and resettlement in the United States by stating: thanks, passfun.awardspace.us however no thanks.
The plan was detailed in an executive order Trump signed Friday that stopped all aid and monetary assistance to South Africa as penalty for what the Trump administration said were "rights infractions" by the government against some of its white citizens.
The Trump administration implicated the South African government of permitting violent attacks on white Afrikaner farmers and introducing a land expropriation law that enables it to "seize ethnic minority Afrikaners' agricultural property without settlement."
The South African government has actually rejected there are any concerted attacks on white farmers and has said that Trump's description of the brand-new land law has plenty of misinformation and distortions.
Afrikaners are descended from mainly Dutch, but likewise French and German colonial settlers who first showed up in South Africa more than 300 years back. They speak Afrikaans, a language 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 developed to remake the government while billionaire Elon Musk searches for more methods to overthrow the federal labor force.
Trump also provoked - then aborted - trade wars with Canada and Mexico but enabled one with China to progress. He relatively played down possibly thorny political issues while insisting he was serious about the United States taking Gaza, emptying out its homeowners and redeveloping the location into "the Riviera of the Middle East." It was an idea that buddy and foe alike all over the world turned down.
Here are some Week 3 takeaways:
Trump has invested 20 days in office, and on almost each of them, he has actually 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 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 functioning.
31 thought Maoist rebels and 2 law enforcement officers are eliminated in forest battle in main India
PATNA, India (AP) - A minimum of 31 suspected Maoist rebels and 2 cops authorities were eliminated on Sunday in the deadliest fight up until now this year in main India, cops said.
Numerous police and paramilitary soldiers launched an operation in the forests of the Indravati location of Chhattisgarh state based upon intelligence that large number of rebels had collected there, said state cops Inspector General Pattilingam Sundarraj.
Sundarraj said as the troops conducted a search operation fighting appeared in the forest, eliminating at least 31 insurgents and two authorities officials. Two other cops were hurt. He said search operations were continuing in the area and the troops had actually recovered some arms and ammunition, consisting of automatic rifles.
There was no instant declaration from the rebels.
Sunday's combating is the greatest so far this year and setiathome.berkeley.edu the 2nd major clash in less than a month in Chhattisgarh, according to police 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 nation ´ s southeastern desert, authorities said Sunday, in the newest disaster including individuals seeking to reach Europe through the chaos-stricken North African country.
The very first mass tomb with 19 bodies was discovered Friday in a farm in the southeastern city of Kufra, the security directorate said in a declaration, adding that authorities took them for autopsy.
Authorities published images on its Facebook page revealing policeman and medics digging in the sand and recuperating dead bodies that were wrapped in blankets.
The al-Abreen charity, which assists migrants in eastern and southern Libya, said that some were obviously shot and humanlove.stream killed before being buried in the mass tomb.
A separate mass grave with a minimum of 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 nearly 70 people were buried in the grave, he included. Authorities were still searching the area.
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 fought against time Sunday to locate 28 individuals missing out on after a rain-triggered landslide killed one individual and buried homes.
Nearly 1,000 workers, consisting of armed authorities, firemens and medical experts, 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, utilizing drones and life-detection radars to locate any signs of life with the aid of regional authorities who recognized with the area, state broadcaster CCTV said.
They saved 2 injured people and evacuated about 360 other people after 10 homes and a production building were buried, CCTV reported.
At a press conference Sunday, authorities said initial assessments attributed the catastrophe to recent heavy rainfall and regional geological conditions. They said these aspects transformed a landslide into a debris circulation, resulting in an accumulation of particles extending about 1.2 kilometers (majority 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 site to assist the rescue operation and went to the impacted residents. He urged authorities to strive to search for the missing individuals, according to main news agency Xinhua.
Kosovo votes for brand-new parliament as foreign aid and talks with Serbia are stalled
PRISTINA, online-learning-initiative.org 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 one of 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 anticipated to win the necessary bulk to govern alone, exposing the possibility the other 2 contenders sign up with ranks if he fails to form a Cabinet.
The other oppositions are the Democratic Party of Kosovo, or asteroidsathome.net PDK, whose main leaders are detained at a global criminal tribunal at The Hague implicated of war criminal offenses, and the Democratic League of Kosovo, or LDK, the oldest celebration in the nation that lost much of its assistance after the death in 2006 of its leader, Ibrahim Rugova.
The parties made big-ticket pledges to increase public wages and pensions, improve education and health services, and battle hardship. However, they did not explain where the money would come from, nor how they would attract more foreign financial investment.
Kurti has been at odds with Western powers after his Cabinet took several steps that raised stress with Serbia and ethnic Serbs, consisting of 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 urged 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 people
JUNEAU, Alaska (AP) - Authorities are working to recover the wreckage of an airplane crash in western Alaska that killed 10 people while detectives are trying to identify what caused the little commuter aircraft to go down in the icy Bering Sea.
The single-engine turboprop airplane was traveling from Unalakleet to the hub 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 eliminated.
Crews on Saturday was successful in recovering the remains of those eliminated in the crash from a wandering ice floe before the awaited beginning of high winds and snow.
Here are things to know 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 trip, 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 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 promises on guiding the advancement of the rapidly advancing innovation.
It's the newest 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 very first trip abroad because taking workplace - will participate in 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:
Presidents and top federal government officials, 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 occasion aims to address how to harness synthetic intelligence ´ s prospective so that it benefits everyone, while containing the innovation ´ s myriad risks.