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

The captives ´ condition and scenes of Hamas requiring them to speak in a handover ceremony stimulated outrage in Israel and might increase pressure on Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu to extend the ceasefire beyond its current six-week phase.

Netanyahu has actually signaled he would resume the war, even if that suggests leaving dozens of hostages in captivity. „President Trump totally 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 individuals taken during 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 employees released 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 freed on Jan. 30 as part of an exchange plan.

They were embraced by relative, a few 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 released captives.

„We are all extremely grateful and very delighted that we get to go back to our homeland. All of us would truly like to thank you. I wear ´ t understand what else to say,“ Pongsak told a press conference at the airport.

Maris said the Thai government „never provided up hope and here is the outcome today. The tears of delight are our motivation.“ He included that Bangkok would continue working to secure the release of the remaining Thai captive.

Trump says some white South Africans are oppressed, might be transplanted in the US. They say no thanks

CAPE TOWN, South Africa (AP) – Groups representing a few of South Africa’s white minority responded Saturday to a plan by President Donald Trump to use them refugee status and resettlement in the United States by saying: thanks, however no thanks.

The plan was detailed in an order Trump signed Friday that stopped all aid and monetary help to South Africa as penalty for what the Trump administration said were „rights offenses“ 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 introducing a land expropriation law that enables it to „seize ethnic minority Afrikaners’ farming home without settlement.“

The South African federal government has actually rejected 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 misinformation and distortions.

Afrikaners are descended from mainly Dutch, but likewise French and German colonial inhabitants who initially 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 distinct from other white South Africans who come 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 government while billionaire Elon Musk hunts for more ways to overthrow the federal workforce.

Trump also provoked – then called off – trade wars with Canada and Mexico but enabled one with China to progress. He apparently minimized possibly thorny political issues while insisting he was severe about the United States seizing Gaza, clearing out its locals and redeveloping the area into „the Riviera of the Middle East.“ It was a concept that good friend and enemy alike around the world turned down.

Here are some Week 3 takeaways:

Trump has actually spent 20 days in workplace, and on nearly each of them, he has actually 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 implied to erase 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 police officers are killed in forest fight in main India

PATNA, India (AP) – A minimum of 31 believed Maoist rebels and forum.pinoo.com.tr two cops officials were killed on Sunday in the most dangerous combat so far this year in main India, authorities said.

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

Sundarraj said as the soldiers carried out a search operation fighting appeared in the forest, eliminating at least 31 insurgents and 2 police authorities. Two other authorities were hurt. 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 immediate declaration from the rebels.

Sunday’s combating is the greatest up until now this year and the 2nd major clash in less than a month in Chhattisgarh, according to authorities officer Jitendra Yadav.

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

CAIRO (AP) – Libya authorities uncovered almost 50 bodies this week from 2 mass graves in the nation ´ s southeastern desert, officials said Sunday, in the current disaster involving individuals 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 posted images on its Facebook page revealing law enforcement officer and medics digging in the sand and shiapedia.1god.org 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 eliminated before being buried in the mass grave.

A separate mass tomb 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 individuals were buried in the tomb, he added. Authorities were still browsing the location.

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

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 one person and buried homes.

Nearly 1,000 personnel, including armed cops, firemens and medical professionals, continued to work 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 buildings, using drones and life-detection radars to locate any indications of life with the aid of local authorities who recognized with the location, state broadcaster CCTV said.

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

At a press conference Sunday, authorities said initial evaluations attributed the disaster to recent heavy rainfall and regional geological conditions. They said these factors changed a landslide into a particles flow, resulting in an accumulation of debris stretching about 1.2 kilometers (more than half a mile) in length, with a total volume exceeding 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 citizens. He advised authorities to make every effort to browse for the missing people, according to main news agency Xinhua.

Kosovo elect new parliament as foreign aid diminishes 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 funding for one of Europe’s poorest countries in question.

Kurti ´ s left-wing Vetevendosje!, or Self-Determination Movement Party, is viewed as the front-runner however is not anticipated to win the required bulk to govern alone, leaving open the possibility the other two 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 accused of war crimes, and the Democratic League of Kosovo, or LDK, the earliest party in the nation that lost much of its support after the death in 2006 of its leader, Ibrahim Rugova.

The parties made big-ticket pledges to increase public wages and pensions, enhance education and health services, and battle poverty. However, they did not explain where the money would originate from, nor how they would attract more foreign financial investment.

Kurti has been at odds with Western powers after his Cabinet took numerous steps that raised tensions with Serbia and ethnic Serbs, consisting of the ban on making use 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 urged 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 people

JUNEAU, Alaska (AP) – Authorities are working to recover the wreckage of an airplane crash in western Alaska that killed 10 people while detectives are attempting to identify what caused 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 disappeared Thursday afternoon. The Bering Air airplane was found the next day after a substantial search. Nine travelers and the pilot were killed.

Crews on Saturday was successful in recovering the remains of those killed in the crash from a wandering ice floe before the awaited onset 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 arranged 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 summit in Paris

PARIS (AP) – The geopolitics of synthetic intelligence will remain in focus at a significant top in France where world leaders, executives and professionals will work out promises on directing the advancement of the rapidly 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 affordable DeepSeek chatbot shakes up the industry.

U.S. Vice President JD Vance – making his very first journey abroad considering that taking workplace – will go to 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 top federal government officials, tech managers and scientists 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 address how to harness artificial intelligence ´ s possible so that it benefits everyone, while containing the technology ´ s myriad risks.