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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 hostages and Israel freed almost 200 Palestinian detainees Saturday in the current exchange of a ceasefire that has actually stopped briefly 16 months of war in Gaza.

The hostages ´ condition and scenes of Hamas forcing 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 signified he would resume the war, even if that suggests leaving lots of hostages in captivity. "President Trump entirely concurred with me: We will do everything to return all the hostages, but 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 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 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 arrangement.

They were embraced by household members, 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 captives.

"We are all extremely grateful and extremely pleased that we get to go back to our homeland. We all would truly like to thank you. I don ´ t understand what else to say," Pongsak told a news conference at the airport.

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

Trump says some white South Africans are oppressed, might be resettled in the US. They say 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 offer them refugee status and resettlement in the United States by saying: thanks, but no thanks.

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

The Trump administration accused the South African federal government of permitting violent attacks on white Afrikaner farmers and presenting a land expropriation law that enables it to "seize ethnic minority Afrikaners' farming home without settlement."

The South African government has actually denied there are any collective attacks on white farmers and has said that Trump's description of the new land law has lots of misinformation and distortions.

Afrikaners are come down from mainly Dutch, however also French and German colonial inhabitants who initially arrived in South Africa more than 300 years ago. 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 federal government while billionaire Elon Musk searches for more methods to overthrow the federal labor force.

Trump likewise provoked - then aborted - trade wars with Canada and Mexico but enabled one with China to move on. He relatively downplayed potentially thorny political concerns while insisting he was serious 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 enemy alike all over the world turned down.

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 - frequently numerous.

Just like Presidents Barack Obama and Joe Biden before him, Trump utilized Inauguration Day to put pen to paper on actions indicated to clean out great deals of his predecessor's policies. Trump also issued 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 operating.

31 presumed Maoist rebels and 2 law enforcement officers are eliminated in forest battle in main India

PATNA, India (AP) - At least 31 thought Maoist rebels and two police officials were killed on Sunday in the deadliest battle so far this year in main India, authorities said.

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

Sundarraj said as the troops performed a search operation battling erupted 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 ammo, including automated rifles.

There was no immediate statement from the rebels.

Sunday's fighting is the most significant up until now this year and the second significant clash in less than a month in Chhattisgarh, according to authorities officer Jitendra Yadav.

2 mass graves with bodies of almost 50 migrants found in southeastern Libya

CAIRO (AP) - Libya authorities discovered almost 50 bodies today from 2 mass graves in the country ´ s southeastern desert, authorities said Sunday, in the most recent 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, including that authorities took them for autopsy.

Authorities posted images on its Facebook page revealing law enforcement officer and medics digging in the sand and bodies that were wrapped 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 different mass tomb 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 almost 70 people were buried in the grave, he included. Authorities were still searching the location.

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

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 a single person and buried homes.

Nearly 1,000 personnel, including armed police, firefighters and physician, continued to operate 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, using drones and life-detection radars to find any indications of life with the aid of local authorities who recognized with the area, state broadcaster CCTV said.

They saved 2 injured people and evacuated about 360 other individuals after 10 houses and a production structure were buried, CCTV reported.

At a news conference Sunday, authorities said preliminary evaluations associated the disaster to current heavy rainfall and regional geological conditions. They said these aspects changed a landslide into a debris flow, leading to an accumulation of particles extending about 1.2 kilometers (majority a mile) in length, with an overall volume surpassing 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 residents. He advised authorities to strive to look for the missing individuals, according to main news firm Xinhua.

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

PRISTINA, Kosovo (AP) - Kosovars cast their votes Sunday in a parliamentary election considered a crucial test for Prime Minister Albin Kurti as talks on normalizing ties with rival Serbia remain stalled and 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 but is not anticipated to win the required majority 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 PDK, whose main leaders are detained at a global criminal tribunal at The Hague implicated of war criminal activities, and the Democratic League of Kosovo, or LDK, the oldest party in the country that lost much of its assistance 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 poverty. However, disgaeawiki.info they did not explain where the money would come from, nor how they would draw in more foreign financial investment.

Kurti has been at chances with Western powers after his Cabinet took several actions that raised tensions with Serbia and ethnic Serbs, consisting of 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 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 recover the wreckage of an airplane crash in western Alaska that eliminated 10 people while investigators are attempting to determine what triggered the small commuter aircraft to go down 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 an extensive search. Nine travelers and the pilot were eliminated.

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

Here are things to learn 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 frequently 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 top 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 guiding the advancement of the rapidly advancing technology.

It's the most current in a series of international discussions around AI governance, however 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 first journey abroad because taking office - will attend the Paris AI Action Summit starting Feb. 10, while China's President Xi Jinping will be sending his special envoy, signifying high stakes for the meeting.

Here's a breakdown:

Presidents 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 event aims to resolve how to harness synthetic intelligence ´ s possible so that it benefits everybody, while containing the innovation ´ s myriad threats.