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 three gaunt, frail-looking Israeli hostages and Israel freed almost 200 Palestinian detainees Saturday in the current exchange of a ceasefire that has stopped briefly 16 months of war in Gaza.

The hostages ´ condition and scenes of Hamas forcing 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 existing six-week stage.

Netanyahu has actually signified he would resume the war, even if that indicates leaving dozens of hostages in captivity. “President Trump entirely concurred with me: We will do everything to return all the captives, 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 people taken during the Hamas-led attack on Israel on Oct. 7, 2023, that stimulated the war.

Israelis’ pleasure 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 imprisoned 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 plan.

They were accepted by family members, some 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 invite home the freed captives.

“We are all extremely grateful and really delighted that we get to go back to our homeland. All of us would truly like to thank you. I wear ´ t know what else to state,” Pongsak told a news conference at the airport.

Maris said the Thai federal government “never gave up hope and here is the outcome today. The tears of joy are our motivation.” 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 transplanted in the US. They state 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, but no thanks.

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

The Trump administration accused the South African federal government of permitting violent attacks on white Afrikaner farmers and presenting a land expropriation law that allows it to “seize ethnic minority Afrikaners’ agricultural residential or commercial property without payment.”

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

Afrikaners are come down from mainly Dutch, but also French and German colonial settlers who first showed up in South Africa more than 300 years back. They speak Afrikaans, users.atw.hu a language obtained from Dutch that established in South Africa, and stand out 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 created to remake the government while billionaire Elon Musk looks for more ways to upend the federal labor force.

Trump also provoked – then called off – trade wars with Canada and Mexico however enabled one with China to progress. He apparently made light of possibly thorny political issues while insisting he was serious about the United States taking Gaza, clearing out its citizens and redeveloping the location into “the Riviera of the Middle East.” It was a concept that buddy and enemy alike around the world declined.

Here are some Week 3 takeaways:

Trump has invested 20 days in workplace, and on nearly each of them, he has signed executive orders – typically numerous.

Much Like Presidents Barack Obama and utahsyardsale.com Joe Biden before him, Trump utilized Inauguration Day to put pen to paper on actions indicated to eliminate great deals of his predecessor’s policies. Trump also provided 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 believed Maoist rebels and 2 law enforcement officers are eliminated in forest battle in main India

PATNA, India (AP) – A minimum of 31 believed Maoist rebels and two police authorities were eliminated on Sunday in the most dangerous battle so far this year in main India, cops said.

Hundreds of authorities and paramilitary soldiers launched an operation in the forests of the Indravati location of Chhattisgarh state based upon intelligence that a great deal of rebels had actually gathered there, said state cops Inspector General Pattilingam Sundarraj.

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

There was no instant declaration from the rebels.

Sunday’s fighting is the biggest up until now this year and the 2nd significant clash in less than a month in Chhattisgarh, according to police officer Jitendra Yadav.

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

CAIRO (AP) – Libya authorities uncovered almost 50 bodies this week from two mass graves in the country ´ s southeastern desert, officials said Sunday, in the current catastrophe including people looking for 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 declaration, adding that authorities took them for autopsy.

Authorities published images on its Facebook page revealing law enforcement officer and medics digging in the sand and recovering dead bodies that were covered 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 grave.

A separate mass tomb with a minimum of 30 bodies was likewise 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 individuals were buried in the tomb, he included. Authorities were still browsing the location.

Rescuers hunt for 28 individuals 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 locate 28 people missing after a rain-triggered landslide eliminated one individual and buried homes.

Nearly 1,000 personnel, consisting of armed cops, firemens and doctor, continued to operate in the rescue operation following the landslide in the village of Jinping in Junlian county on Saturday. Some officers browsed through the remains of collapsed structures, using drones and life-detection radars to find any indications of life with the aid of regional authorities who were familiar with the area, state broadcaster CCTV said.

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

At a news conference Sunday, authorities said initial evaluations attributed the catastrophe to recent heavy rainfall and local geological conditions. They said these factors transformed a landslide into a debris flow, resulting in a build-up 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 website to assist the rescue operation and visited the impacted locals. He urged authorities to strive to look for the missing people, 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 normalizing ties with competing Serbia remain stalled and foreign financing for one of Europe’s poorest countries in concern.

Kurti ´ s left-wing Vetevendosje!, or Self-Determination Movement Party, is viewed as the front-runner but is not expected to win the needed bulk to govern alone, oke.zone 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 forum.altaycoins.com PDK, whose main leaders are detained at a worldwide criminal tribunal at The Hague implicated of war criminal activities, and the Democratic League of Kosovo, or historydb.date LDK, the earliest celebration in the nation that lost much of its support after the death in 2006 of its leader, Ibrahim Rugova.

The celebrations made big-ticket promises to increase public wages 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 chances with Western powers after his Cabinet took several actions that 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 akropolistravel.com have actually urged 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 recover the wreckage of an airplane crash in western Alaska that killed 10 people while private investigators are attempting to determine 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 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 learn about the airplane crash, which is one of 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 ambition and China’s DeepSeek eclipse an AI summit in Paris

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

It’s the most recent in a series of international discussions around AI governance, but 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 because taking workplace – will participate in the Paris AI Action Summit beginning Feb. 10, while China’s President Xi Jinping will be sending his special envoy, signifying high stakes for the conference.

Here’s a breakdown:

Presidents and leading government authorities, tech employers and researchers are gathering 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 prospective so that it benefits everybody, while containing the technology ´ s myriad dangers.