Hamas launches 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 released nearly 200 Palestinian detainees Saturday in the current exchange of a ceasefire that has paused 16 months of war in Gaza.

The hostages ´ condition and scenes of Hamas forcing them to speak in a handover event sparked outrage in Israel and might increase pressure on Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu to extend the ceasefire beyond its existing six-week stage.

Netanyahu has signaled he would resume the war, even if that means leaving dozens of hostages in captivity. "President Trump entirely agreed with me: We will do everything 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 among about 250 individuals taken throughout the Hamas-led attack on Israel on Oct. 7, 2023, that triggered the war.

Israelis' joy 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 launched 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 released on Jan. 30 as part of an exchange plan.

They were accepted by household members, some 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 welcome home the freed captives.

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

Maris said the Thai government "never quit hope and here is the outcome today. The tears of joy are our support." He included that Bangkok would continue working to secure the release of the remaining Thai hostage.

Trump states some white South Africans are oppressed, could be resettled in the US. They say no thanks

CAPE TOWN, South Africa (AP) - Groups representing a few 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 saying: thanks, but 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 people.

The Trump administration implicated the South African government of permitting violent attacks on white Afrikaner farmers and presenting a land expropriation law that allows it to "take ethnic minority Afrikaners' agricultural residential or commercial property without payment."

The South African government has actually rejected there are any concerted attacks on white farmers and has actually said that Trump's description of the new land law is complete of false information and distortions.

Afrikaners are come down from mainly Dutch, but likewise French and German colonial inhabitants who first showed up in South Africa more than 300 years back. They speak Afrikaans, a language obtained from Dutch that established 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 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 methods to overthrow the federal labor force.

Trump also provoked - then aborted - trade wars with Canada and Mexico however allowed one with China to move forward. He apparently downplayed possibly tough political issues while insisting he was severe about the United States taking Gaza, clearing out its residents and redeveloping the location into "the Riviera of the Middle East." It was an idea that good friend and opponent alike all over the world declined.

Here are some Week 3 takeaways:

Trump has spent 20 days in office, and on almost each of them, he has actually signed executive orders - typically several.

Much Like Presidents Barack Obama and Joe Biden before him, Trump utilized Inauguration Day to put pen to paper on actions suggested to wipe out large numbers of his predecessor's policies. Trump likewise provided 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 climate accord and keep TikTok functioning.

31 thought Maoist rebels and 2 police officers are eliminated in forest battle in main India

PATNA, prawattasao.awardspace.info India (AP) - A minimum of 31 thought Maoist rebels and 2 cops authorities were eliminated on Sunday in the most dangerous combat up until now this year in main India, police said.

Hundreds of cops 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 gathered there, said state authorities Inspector General Pattilingam Sundarraj.

Sundarraj said as the troops performed a search operation battling erupted in the forest, killing a minimum of 31 insurgents and two police authorities. Two other police 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 instant declaration from the rebels.

Sunday's battling is the most significant up until now this year and the second significant clash in less than a month in Chhattisgarh, according to police officer 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 current tragedy including people looking for to reach Europe through the chaos-stricken North African nation.

The very first mass tomb with 19 bodies was found 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 posted images on its Facebook page revealing 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 obviously shot and 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 individuals were buried in the tomb, he added. Authorities were still searching the location.

Rescuers hunt for 28 individuals still missing 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 out on after a rain-triggered landslide eliminated one person and buried homes.

Nearly 1,000 personnel, consisting of armed authorities, firemens and physician, continued to operate 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 indications of life with the aid of regional authorities who recognized with the area, state broadcaster CCTV said.

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

At a news conference Sunday, authorities said initial evaluations attributed the catastrophe to recent heavy rainfall and regional geological conditions. They said these aspects transformed a landslide into a debris circulation, leading to a build-up of debris stretching 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 website to direct the rescue operation and checked out the impacted residents. He prompted authorities to make every effort to browse for the missing individuals, according to main news company Xinhua.

Kosovo votes for new parliament as foreign aid decreases and talks with Serbia are stalled

PRISTINA, Kosovo (AP) - Kosovars cast their votes Sunday in a parliamentary election thought about an essential test for Prime Minister Albin Kurti as talks on normalizing ties with rival Serbia remain stalled and archmageriseswiki.com foreign financing 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 needed majority to govern alone, leaving open the possibility the other two 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 an international criminal tribunal at The Hague implicated of war criminal offenses, and the Democratic League of Kosovo, or LDK, the earliest celebration in the nation that lost much of its support after the death in 2006 of its leader, Ibrahim Rugova.

The celebrations made big-ticket pledges to increase public incomes and pensions, improve education and health services, and battle hardship. However, they did not explain where the cash would originate from, nor how they would attract more foreign financial investment.

Kurti has been at chances with Western powers after his Cabinet took numerous actions that raised stress with Serbia and ethnic Serbs, including the restriction on using 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 advised 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 eliminated 10 people

JUNEAU, Alaska (AP) - Authorities are working to recuperate the wreckage of an airplane crash in western Alaska that killed 10 individuals while private investigators are attempting to identify what triggered the little commuter aircraft to decrease in the icy Bering Sea.

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

Crews on Saturday succeeded in recovering 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 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 set up 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 expert system will remain in focus at a significant summit in France where world leaders, executives and professionals will work out pledges on guiding the development of the quickly advancing technology.

It's the most recent in a series of international dialogues around AI governance, but one that comes at a fresh inflection point as China's buzzy and affordable DeepSeek chatbot shakes up the market.

U.S. Vice President JD Vance - making his very first journey abroad because taking workplace - will participate in the Paris AI Action Summit beginning Feb. 10, while China's President Xi Jinping will be sending his special envoy, indicating high stakes for the conference.

Here's a breakdown:

Heads of state and top government officials, tech bosses and scientists are gathering 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 prospective so that it benefits everybody, while containing the technology ´ s myriad dangers.