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

Hamas releases 3 frail-looking Israeli hostages for Palestinian detainees under Gaza ceasefire

DEIR AL-BALAH, Gaza Strip (AP) – Hamas-led militants released three gaunt, frail-looking Israeli hostages 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 hostages ´ condition and scenes of Hamas requiring them to speak in a handover ceremony triggered outrage in Israel and could increase pressure on Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu to extend the ceasefire beyond its current six-week phase.

Netanyahu has actually indicated he would resume the war, even if that means leaving lots of hostages in captivity. „President Trump totally concurred with me: We will do everything to return all the hostages, but Hamas will not exist,“ Netanyahu said after the exchange.

Sharabi, 52; Ohad Ben Ami, 56; and Or Levy, 34, were among about 250 people taken throughout 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 return to Bangkok after being held for over a year in Gaza

BANGKOK (AP) – Five Thai employees 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, users.atw.hu 36, and Bannawat Saethao, 27, were released on Jan. 30 as part of an exchange arrangement.

They were welcomed by member of the family, 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 invite home the freed hostages.

„We are all very grateful and very delighted that we get to go back to our homeland. All of us would really like to thank you. I put on ´ t know what else to say,“ Pongsak informed a news conference at the airport.

Maris said the Thai federal government „never offered up hope and here is the outcome today. The tears of pleasure are our encouragement.“ He added 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 reacted Saturday to a strategy by President Donald Trump to offer them refugee status and resettlement in the United States by stating: thanks, however no thanks.

The strategy was detailed in an executive order Trump signed Friday that stopped all aid and monetary support to South Africa as penalty for what the Trump administration said were „rights violations“ by the federal government against some of its white residents.

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

The South African government has actually denied there are any concerted attacks on white farmers and has actually 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 also French and German colonial settlers who initially got here in South Africa more than 300 years back. They speak Afrikaans, a language obtained from Dutch that established in South Africa, and stand out 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 hunts for more ways to upend the federal workforce.

Trump likewise provoked – then called off – trade wars with Canada and Mexico however enabled one with China to move on. He seemingly played down potentially thorny political concerns while insisting he was severe about the United States taking Gaza, emptying out its locals and redeveloping the location into „the Riviera of the Middle East.“ It was a concept that friend and opponent alike around the globe turned down.

Here are some Week 3 takeaways:

Trump has actually spent 20 days in office, and on almost every one of them, he has actually signed executive orders – typically a number of.

Much Like Presidents Barack Obama and Joe Biden before him, Trump utilized Inauguration Day to put pen to paper on actions indicated to wipe out great deals of his predecessor’s policies. Trump also 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 operating.

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

PATNA, India (AP) – A minimum of 31 suspected Maoist rebels and two authorities authorities were killed on Sunday in the most dangerous battle up until now this year in main India, cops said.

Hundreds of police and paramilitary soldiers released an operation in the forests of the Indravati location of Chhattisgarh state based upon intelligence that big number of rebels had collected there, said state authorities Inspector General Pattilingam Sundarraj.

Sundarraj said as the troops performed a search operation battling appeared in the forest, eliminating at least 31 insurgents and two authorities authorities. Two other authorities were hurt. He said search operations were continuing in the location and the troops had recuperated some arms and ammunition, including automated rifles.

There was no instant declaration from the rebels.

Sunday’s battling is the most significant up until now this year and the second major clash in less than a month in Chhattisgarh, according to law enforcement officers Jitendra Yadav.

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

CAIRO (AP) – Libya authorities uncovered almost 50 bodies today from two mass graves in the nation ´ s southeastern desert, authorities said Sunday, in the newest catastrophe including individuals looking for to reach Europe through the chaos-stricken North African nation.

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 showing 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 apparently shot and killed before being buried in the mass grave.

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 nearly 70 people were buried in the tomb, he included. Authorities were still browsing 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 battled against time Sunday to find 28 people missing after a rain-triggered landslide eliminated someone and buried homes.

Nearly 1,000 personnel, consisting of armed authorities, firefighters and doctor, 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 buildings, utilizing drones and life-detection radars to find any signs of life with the aid of regional officials who were familiar with the location, state broadcaster CCTV said.

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

At a press conference Sunday, authorities said initial evaluations associated the disaster to current heavy rainfall and local geological conditions. They said these factors changed a landslide into a particles circulation, resulting in an accumulation of particles stretching about 1.2 kilometers (over half a mile) in length, with a total 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 visited the impacted locals. He advised authorities to strive to browse for the missing individuals, according to main news agency Xinhua.

Kosovo elect 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 an essential test for Prime Minister Albin Kurti as talks on normalizing ties with competing Serbia remain stalled and foreign funding for wiki.vst.hs-furtwangen.de one of Europe’s poorest countries 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 essential bulk to govern alone, leaving open 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 worldwide criminal tribunal at The Hague implicated of war crimes, 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 parties made big-ticket pledges 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 attract more foreign financial investment.

Kurti has actually been at odds with Western powers after his Cabinet took numerous steps that raised stress 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 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 eliminated 10 individuals

JUNEAU, Alaska (AP) – Authorities are working to recuperate the wreckage of an airplane crash in western Alaska that eliminated 10 individuals while investigators are trying to identify 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 center neighborhood of Nome when it disappeared Thursday afternoon. The Bering Air airplane was found the next day after a substantial search. Nine guests and the pilot were killed.

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

Here are things to learn about the airplane crash, which is among 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 frequently scheduled commuter journey, and the aircraft went missing about 30 miles (48 kilometers) southeast of Nome.

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

PARIS (AP) – The geopolitics of expert system will remain in focus at a significant top in France where world leaders, executives and experts will hammer out pledges on assisting the development of the quickly advancing technology.

It’s the newest in a series of international discussions around AI governance, however one that comes at a fresh inflection point as China’s buzzy and budget-friendly DeepSeek chatbot shocks the industry.

U.S. Vice President JD Vance – making his very first trip abroad given that taking office – will participate in 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 conference.

Here’s a breakdown:

Heads of state and top federal government officials, tech managers and researchers are collecting in Paris for the two-day summit 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 everybody, while containing the technology ´ s myriad dangers.