Hamas names 3 hostages it plans to release Sunday, potentially clearing the way for truce after delay

Associated Press

CAIRO (AP) — Hamas names 3 hostages it plans to release Sunday, potentially clearing the way for truce after delay.

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  • More than 150 female inmates raped and burned to death during Goma jailbreak in DRC, UN says

    More than 150 female prisoners were raped and burned to death during a jailbreak last week when fleeing male inmates set fire to a prison in Goma, in the eastern Democratic Republic of Congo, a United Nations spokesperson has said.

  • Russia withdraws North Korean troops in Kursk after losses, Seoul says

    South Korea’s National Intelligence Service confirms reports that Kim Jong-un’s battered forces have been off the frontline since mid-January

  • What happened to the North Korean troops fighting Ukraine on the frontline?

    Kim Jong Un sent roughly 11,000 soldiers to join Vladimir Putin’s troops in November last year

  • US envoy draws ‘red line’ over Hezbollah’s inclusion in Lebanese govt

    On her first official visit to Lebanon, US Deputy Special Envoy for the Middle East Morgan Ortagus on Friday said the US had drawn a red line against Hezbollah's inclusion in a future Lebanese government. Prime minister-designate Nawaf Salam has struggled to form a government amid political pressure from Hezbollah and its allies. The United States has set a "red line" that Shi'ite armed group Hezbollah should not be a member of Lebanon's next government after its military setbacks against Israel

  • Israel orders army to plan to let Palestinians leave Gaza

    Israel's defence minister ordered the army on Thursday to prepare for "voluntary" departures from Gaza, as US President Donald Trump ruled out sending American troops to the territory."I have instructed the IDF (military) to prepare a plan to enable voluntary departure for Gaza residents," Katz said, adding they could go "to any country willing to accept them".

  • Explainer-Why Trump's proposal on Gaza is ringing alarm bells in the region

    Trump's plans are likely to heighten fears among Palestinians in Gaza, which had a pre-war population of around 2.3 million, of being driven out of the coastal strip, and stoke concern in Arab states that have long worried about the destabilising impact of any such exodus. Palestinians have long been haunted by what they call the "Nakba", or catastrophe, when 700,000 of them were dispossessed from their homes during the war that surrounded the creation of Israel in 1948. Israel disputes the account that they were forced out.

  • MP’s brother organised pro-Palestine protest during Oct 7 massacre

    A campaign group run by the brother of a pro-Palestinian MP helped organise a march through London that was planned as the Oct 7 massacre was taking place, The Telegraph can reveal.

  • Bangladesh protesters torch house of nation's founding leader

    STORY: Hundreds of Bangladeshis clambered upon the remains of a building in Dhaka which housed a museum belonging to the family of ousted former Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina on Thursday (February 6).It was vandalized and torched the previous night by student protesters, who voiced fury over her recent speech on social media.Hasina urged the people of Bangladesh to defy the interim government.She accuses it of seizing power in an unconstitutional manner.Many people were seen hammering down structures and chiselling at brick walls, as they took apart what was left of the building.In August last year, Hasina was forced to flee to neighboring India, as protests against her rule killed more than 1,000 people.Since her departure, the government has struggled to maintain law and order.A symbol of the country's establishment, the house is where her father declared Bangladesh's independence from Pakistan in 1971.He and most of his family were assassinated at the house in 1975. Hasina, who survived the attack, transformed the building into a museum dedicated to her father's legacy.

  • Israel backs Trump plan and orders military to prepare for Palestinians to leave Gaza

    Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has backed US President Donald Trump’s proposal to “take over” Gaza, as Israel’s army was ordered to prepare plans for large numbers of Palestinians to leave the territory.

  • Bangladesh's government warns of stern action after house where independence was declared is razed

    Bangladesh’s interim government headed by Nobel Peace laureate Muhammad Yunus said Friday it will contain vandalism and arson taking place across the country. The development comes amid concern from a major opposition party and neighboring India over attacks on a historic house linked to ousted former Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina. Mobs targeting supporters of Hasina have vandalized homes and businesses in various parts of the country since Wednesday night.

  • As hostages return, Israelis struggle with releasing Palestinian prisoners

    One of the last things Oran Almog saw was broken glass, blood and bodies after a suicide bombing in Israel rendered him blind when he was just 10 years old and killed 21 people, including his brother, father and grandparents. The man who planned the attack - Islamic Jihad militant leader Sami Jaradat - was released from an Israeli jail last month as part of a ceasefire deal to bring back Israeli hostages from Gaza and stop the fighting there. Almog, now 32, and many Israelis are struggling to reach acceptance that the deal involves the release of Palestinians convicted for deadly attacks in decades of violence between Israelis and Palestinians.

  • Trump says Israel will turn over Gaza to US with ‘no need’ for American troops

    US president reiterates his proposal for Washington to control and redevelop the war-torn territory, which has sparked global condemnation

  • Defector who exposed Assad’s brutality calls for Syria sanctions to be lifted

    The former military officer, previously known only as ‘Caesar’, smuggled evidence of thousands of deaths out of the country

  • Hamas to free three Israeli hostages in latest Gaza swap

    Hamas said it would release three Israelis on Saturday in the fifth hostage-prisoner swap between the militants and Israel as part of a Gaza ceasefire deal, in exchange for 183 prisoners to be freed from Israeli jails.Palestinian militants have so far freed 18 hostages in exchange for around 600 Palestinian prisoners released from Israeli jails.

  • Egypt lobbies against Trump plan to empty Gaza of Palestinians as Israel prepares for it

    Israel says it has begun preparations for the departure of Palestinians from Gaza despite international rejection of President Donald Trump’s plan to empty the territory of its population. Egypt has launched a diplomatic blitz behind the scenes against the proposal, warning it would put its peace deal with Israel at risk, officials said. Trump administration officials have tried to dial back aspects of the proposal after it was widely rejected internationally, saying the relocation of Palestinians would be temporary.

  • AP PHOTOS: A tour through northeastern Syria in a moment of uncertainty

    The sudden collapse of the Syrian government and President Bashar Assad’s flight to Russia in December marked a dramatic turning point for the country. For many, it was a moment of joy after 54 years of Assad family rule and nearly 14 years of a civil war that claimed an estimated half a million lives and displaced half of Syria’s prewar population.

  • Hamas names next hostages to be released under Gaza ceasefire deal

    Three more hostages will be released in exchange for Palestinian prisoners

  • Orebro shooting: Gunman had links with education centre where he killed 10 people, Swedish police say

    The gunman who killed 10 people and wounded several others in Sweden may have been connected with the adult education centre where he opened fire, police have said. Sweden has been left reeling as more details emerge, with the names of victims yet to be confirmed by police. In an update on Thursday, police said the gunman - who has been named in local media as Rickard Andersson - may have attended the education centre as a student.

  • DR Congo conflict advances as UN warns of regional escalation

    The Rwanda-backed M23 armed group was threatening another key town in eastern Democratic Republic of Congo on Friday, as the United Nations top rights body said it would launch an investigation into alleged violations and abuses during the deadly clashes gripping the African nation.M23 fighters and Rwandan troops seized the city of Goma last week and are now pushing into the neighbouring South Kivu province.Thousands have died and huge numbers displaced as they have overtaken swathes of the mineral-rich region, routing DRC troops and their allies in the latest episode of decades-long turmoil in eastern DRC. In an urgent session requested by DRC itself, the UN Human Rights Council adopted Friday a resolution urging M23 fighters to withdraw immediately from occupied areas, and triggering an investigation.- Worse to come -During the Human Rights Council meeting UN rights chief Volker Turk warned "the risk of violence escalating throughout the sub-region has never been higher"."If nothing is done, the worst may be yet to come, for the people of the eastern DRC, but also beyond the country's borders," he added.Turk said nearly 3,000 people had been confirmed killed and 2,880 injured since M23 entered Goma on January 26, and that final tolls would likely be much higher.He also said his team is "currently verifying multiple allegations of rape, gang rape and sexual slavery".Also on Friday, a Swiss NGO said three local staff were killed in the area this week.Congolese forces were bracing Friday for an assault on the town of Kavumu, which hosts an airport critical to supplying its troops, according to security, humanitarian and local sources.Kavumu is the last barrier before the South Kivu provincial capital Bukavu on the Rwandan border, where residents were also on edge. "We see some people starting to flee," resident Aganze Byamungu told AFP.A local who spoke on condition of anonymity said shops were barricading their fronts and emptying storerooms for fear of looting, while schools and universities suspended classes."The border with Rwanda is open but almost impassable because of the number of people trying to cross. It's total chaos," they added.- 'Go to Kinshasa' -In Goma, where the M23 has already installed its own mayor and authorities, the group convened tens of thousands of people on Thursday for a public meeting of the River Congo Alliance, a political-military coalition that includes the M23.The head of the alliance, Corneille Nangaa, told the crowd that the group wants to "liberate all of the Congo".Young people at the meeting in the city's packed stadium chanted "Go to Kinshasa!", the DRC's capital on the other side of the vast country, which is roughly the size of Western Europe.The DRC issued an international arrest warrant for Nangaa on Wednesday.Since the M23 resurfaced in late 2021, the DRC army, which has a reputation for poor training and corruption, has been forced into multiple retreats.The offensive has raised fears of regional war, given that several countries are engaged in supporting DRC militarily, including South Africa, Burundi and Malawi. Burundi has sent an additional battalion to support the Congolese army, a security source told AFP on Friday.Previous peace talks hosted by Angola and Kenya have failed. Rwandan President Paul Kagame and Congolese President Felix Tshisekedi are due to attend a summit in Tanzania on Saturday as regional powers try to defuse the crisis.The latest peace summit brings together the eight-country East African Community and 16-member South African Development Community. It was set to start with a ministerial meeting on Friday, before the arrival of Kagame, Tshisekedi and other regional leaders on Saturday. "As we seek a joint resolution following numerous earlier initiatives, we need to understand that insecurity and conflicts in one region can escalate and destabilise the whole world," Kenyan foreign secretary Musalia Mudavadi, who is in Tanzania for the meeting, said in statement.A UN expert report said last year that Rwanda has "de facto" control over the M23, alongside some 4,000 of its own troops in the conflict zone. The report also accused Kigali of profiting from smuggling minerals from the DRC -- particularly coltan used in phones and laptops, as well as gold.Rwanda denies direct involvement and accuses the DRC of sheltering the FDLR, an armed group created by ethnic Hutus who massacred Tutsis during the 1994 Rwandan genocide.burs-er/dl/keo/phz

  • Nearly 3,000 people killed after rebels seize key city in DR Congo, UN says

    Nearly three thousand people have been killed in the city of Goma in the eastern Democratic Republic of Congo, according to the United Nations, after the provincial capital was captured by rebels following days of fierce fighting with the Congolese army.