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Hamas releases 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 released nearly 200 Palestinian detainees Saturday in the newest 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 ceremony sparked outrage in Israel and could increase pressure on Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu to extend the ceasefire beyond its present six-week phase.

Netanyahu has signified he would resume the war, even if that indicates leaving lots of captives in captivity. "President Trump completely agreed with me: We will do everything to return all the captives, 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 people taken during the Hamas-led attack on Israel on Oct. 7, 2023, that sparked the war.

Israelis' pleasure 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 employees 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 freed on Jan. 30 as part of an exchange arrangement.

They were welcomed 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 delighted that we get to go back to our homeland. All of us would actually like to thank you. I don ´ t know what else to state," Pongsak a news conference at the airport.

Maris said the Thai federal government "never ever quit hope and here is the result today. The tears of happiness are our support." He included that Bangkok would continue working to protect the release of the remaining Thai captive.

Trump states some white South Africans are oppressed, could be resettled 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 plan by President Donald Trump to provide them refugee status and resettlement in the United States by saying: thanks, however no thanks.

The strategy was detailed in an executive order Trump signed Friday that stopped all aid and financial help to South Africa as punishment for what the Trump administration said were "rights offenses" by the federal government against some of its white people.

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

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

Afrikaners are come down from mainly Dutch, however likewise French and German colonial settlers who first got here 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 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 developed to remake the federal government while billionaire Elon Musk hunts for more ways to overthrow the federal labor force.

Trump likewise provoked - then called off - trade wars with Canada and Mexico however enabled one with China to move forward. He seemingly minimized potentially tough political problems while insisting he was severe about the United States seizing Gaza, clearing out its homeowners and redeveloping the location into "the Riviera of the Middle East." It was a concept that pal and enemy alike all over the world rejected.

Here are some Week 3 takeaways:

Trump has actually invested 20 days in workplace, elearnportal.science and on nearly each of them, he has signed executive orders - frequently a number of.

Just like Presidents Barack Obama and Joe Biden before him, Trump used Inauguration Day to put pen to paper on actions meant to wipe 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 environment accord and keep TikTok working.

31 thought Maoist rebels and 2 authorities officers are killed in forest combat in main India

PATNA, India (AP) - A minimum of 31 presumed Maoist rebels and 2 cops officials were eliminated on Sunday in the deadliest combat so far this year in main India, authorities said.

Hundreds of cops 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 cops Inspector General Pattilingam Sundarraj.

Sundarraj said as the troops conducted a search operation combating appeared in the forest, eliminating at least 31 insurgents and 2 cops officials. Two other police were injured. He said search operations were continuing in the location and the troops had recuperated some arms and ammunition, consisting of automated rifles.

There was no instant declaration from the rebels.

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

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

CAIRO (AP) - Libya authorities revealed nearly 50 bodies this week from 2 mass graves in the nation ´ s southeastern desert, officials said Sunday, in the latest disaster involving people looking for to reach Europe through the chaos-stricken North African country.

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 declaration, adding 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 wrapped in blankets.

The al-Abreen charity, which helps 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 at least 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 people were buried in the tomb, he added. Authorities were still searching the location.

Rescuers hunt for 28 individuals still missing out on after a landslide in southwest China; 1 body recovered

BEIJING (AP) - Emergency teams in China's southwestern Sichuan province fought against time Sunday to locate 28 individuals missing after a rain-triggered landslide killed someone and addsub.wiki buried homes.

Nearly 1,000 workers, consisting of armed authorities, firefighters and medical specialists, continued to operate in the rescue operation following the landslide in the town 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 regional officials who recognized with the location, state broadcaster CCTV said.

They rescued 2 hurt people and left about 360 other individuals after 10 homes and a production structure were buried, CCTV reported.

At a news conference Sunday, authorities said initial assessments associated the disaster to recent heavy rainfall and local geological conditions. They said these factors transformed a landslide into a debris circulation, resulting in an accumulation of particles extending about 1.2 kilometers (more than half 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 website to guide the rescue operation and checked out the impacted citizens. He prompted authorities to make every effort to look for the missing individuals, according to main news firm 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 thought about a crucial test for Prime Minister Albin Kurti as talks on stabilizing ties with competing 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 viewed as the front-runner however 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 an international criminal tribunal at The Hague implicated of war criminal offenses, and the Democratic League of Kosovo, or LDK, the oldest party in the country 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 wages and pensions, improve education and health services, and battle hardship. However, they did not explain where the money would come from, bytes-the-dust.com nor how they would draw in more foreign financial investment.

Kurti has actually been at odds with Western powers after his Cabinet took several steps 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 upon Belgrade ´ s social services and payments. The U.S., the European Union and the NATO-led stabilization force KFOR have actually prompted 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 killed 10 individuals

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 trying to determine what caused 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 community of Nome when it vanished Thursday afternoon. The Bering Air airplane was found the next day after a comprehensive search. Nine passengers and the pilot were eliminated.

Crews on Saturday prospered in recuperating the remains of those killed 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 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 set up commuter journey, 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 overshadow an AI summit in Paris

PARIS (AP) - The geopolitics of expert system will remain in focus at a significant top in France where world leaders, executives and specialists will hammer out pledges on directing the advancement of the quickly advancing innovation.

It's the current in a series of global 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 since taking workplace - will attend the Paris AI Action Summit starting Feb. 10, while China's President Xi Jinping will be sending his special envoy, signaling high stakes for the meeting.

Here's a breakdown:

Heads of state and leading federal government authorities, tech bosses and researchers 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 attend to how to harness expert system ´ s prospective so that it benefits everybody, while containing the technology ´ s myriad threats.