AP News in Brief At 6:04 A.m. EST .

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 freed nearly 200 Palestinian detainees Saturday in the most current exchange of a ceasefire that has stopped briefly 16 months of war in Gaza.

The captives ´ 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 current six-week stage.

Netanyahu has actually signified he would resume the war, even if that means leaving dozens of hostages in captivity. „President Trump totally concurred with me: We will do whatever 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 amongst about 250 people taken during the Hamas-led attack on Israel on Oct. 7, 2023, that triggered 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 launched after being held hostage 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 welcomed by relative, 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 freed hostages.

„We are all really grateful and really delighted that we get to go back to our homeland. We all would actually like to thank you. I don ´ t know what else to say,“ Pongsak informed a press conference at the airport.

Maris said the Thai federal government „never ever gave up hope and here is the outcome today. The tears of delight are our encouragement.“ He added that Bangkok would continue working to protect 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 plan by President Donald Trump to offer 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 punishment for what the Trump administration said were „rights violations“ by the federal government against a few of its white residents.

The Trump administration implicated the South African federal government of allowing violent attacks on white Afrikaner farmers and introducing a land expropriation law that enables it to „take ethnic minority Afrikaners’ agricultural home without compensation.“

The South African federal government has rejected there are any collective attacks on white farmers and has said that Trump’s description of the brand-new land law has lots of false information and distortions.

Afrikaners are descended from mainly Dutch, but likewise French and German colonial inhabitants who initially showed up in South Africa more than 300 years ago. They speak Afrikaans, a language obtained from Dutch that developed 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 created to remake the government while billionaire Elon Musk looks for more ways to upend the federal workforce.

Trump also provoked – then called off – trade wars with Canada and Mexico however permitted one with China to progress. He relatively downplayed possibly thorny political problems while insisting he was major about the United States taking Gaza, emptying out its citizens and redeveloping the area into „the Riviera of the Middle East.“ It was a concept that pal and opponent alike worldwide declined.

Here are some Week 3 takeaways:

Trump has actually invested 20 days in workplace, and on almost every one of them, he has signed executive orders – typically several.

Just like 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 also released 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 functioning.

31 believed Maoist rebels and 2 law enforcement officers are eliminated in forest fight in main India

PATNA, India (AP) – A minimum of 31 believed Maoist rebels and 2 police officials were eliminated on Sunday in the deadliest fight so far this year in main India, police said.

Hundreds of authorities and paramilitary soldiers launched 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 soldiers performed a search operation battling emerged in the forest, eliminating at least 31 insurgents and 2 police officials. Two other cops were injured. He said search operations were continuing in the area and the troops had actually 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 major clash in less than a month in Chhattisgarh, according to cops officer Jitendra Yadav.

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

CAIRO (AP) – Libya authorities discovered nearly 50 bodies today from 2 mass graves in the nation ´ s southeastern desert, officials said Sunday, in the newest tragedy involving people looking for to reach Europe through the chaos-stricken North African country.

The 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, including 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 covered in blankets.

The al-Abreen charity, which assists migrants in eastern and southern Libya, said that some were obviously shot and eliminated before being buried in the mass tomb.

A different mass tomb 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 people were buried in the tomb, he added. Authorities were still searching the location.

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

BEIJING (AP) – Emergency teams in China’s southwestern Sichuan province fought against time Sunday to find 28 individuals missing after a rain-triggered landslide killed a single person and buried homes.

Nearly 1,000 personnel, consisting of armed police, firefighters 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 buildings, using drones and life-detection radars to locate any indications of life with the aid of regional officials who were familiar with the area, state broadcaster CCTV said.

They saved two injured people and evacuated about 360 other individuals after 10 homes and a manufacturing structure were buried, CCTV reported.

At a press conference Sunday, authorities said initial evaluations associated the disaster to recent heavy rainfall and regional geological conditions. They said these factors changed a landslide into a debris flow, leading to a build-up of particles 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 site to guide the rescue operation and went to the affected residents. He urged authorities to strive to look for the missing people, according to main news firm Xinhua.

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

PRISTINA, Kosovo (AP) 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 one of Europe’s poorest nations in concern.

Kurti ´ s left-wing Vetevendosje!, or Self-Determination Movement Party, is viewed as the front-runner but is not anticipated to win the needed bulk to govern alone, leaving open the possibility the other 2 contenders join 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 worldwide criminal tribunal at The Hague accused 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 parties made big-ticket promises to increase public incomes 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 bring in more foreign financial investment.

Kurti has been at odds with Western powers after his Cabinet took several actions that raised tensions with Serbia and ethnic Serbs, including 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 actually urged the federal government in Pristina to refrain from unilateral actions, fearing the revival of inter-ethnic conflict.

Here’s what we know 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 eliminated 10 people while detectives are attempting to determine what caused the little commuter aircraft to go down 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 discovered the next day after a comprehensive search. Nine travelers and the pilot were eliminated.

Crews on Saturday was successful in recovering the remains of those killed in the crash from a wandering ice floe before the awaited start of high winds and snow.

Here are things to know 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 arranged commuter journey, and the aircraft went missing out on about 30 miles (48 kilometers) southeast of Nome.

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Trump’s AI ambition and China’s DeepSeek overshadow an AI summit in Paris

PARIS (AP) – The geopolitics of artificial intelligence will remain in focus at a significant top in France where world leaders, executives and professionals will work out pledges on guiding the advancement of the quickly advancing technology.

It’s the current in a series of worldwide discussions around AI governance, but one that comes at a fresh inflection point as China’s buzzy and budget-friendly DeepSeek chatbot shakes up the market.

U.S. Vice President JD Vance – making his first trip abroad considering that 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 conference.

Here’s a breakdown:

Heads of state and leading federal government officials, biolink.palcurr.com 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 event aims to resolve how to harness expert system ´ s prospective so that it benefits everyone, while containing the innovation ´ s myriad risks.