World Headlines
Hamas releases all 6 hostages as planned in latest exchange
Newly-released Israeli hostage Omer Shem Tov gestures as he arrives in a vehicle at Beilinson Hospital in the Rabin Medical Centre in Petah Tikva in central Israel on February 22, 2025. Three more Israeli hostages were freed by Hamas militants at a ceremony in central Gaza on February 22 after two others were released in the southern part of the Palestinian territory. (Photo by AHMAD GHARABLI/AFP via Getty Images)(LONDON) -- Hamas released six living hostages on Saturday in separate locations of the Gaza Strip -- including the city of Rafah in the south and the Nuseirat refugee camp in the center of the enclave.Stages were set up in each location on Saturday morning, surrounded by Hamas fighters and crowds of ... Read More
Pope not fully recovered, condition not life-threatening, doctors say
Vatican Media via Vatican Pool/Getty Images(LONDON) -- Pope Francis has not yet fully recovered from illness, but he is not in danger of losing his life, doctors from Gemelli Hospital said during a press conference on Friday.Pope Francis was hospitalized with a respiratory tract infection and now has pneumonia in both lungs. He has been hospitalized since last week."The pope is fine, but the reason we are here is it has been one week in the hospital," doctors said in English, saying that Francis is 88 years old and mortal, but adding he has retained his humor in the situation.The pope was admitted to a hospital last week for "necessary tests" and to continue his ongoing bronchitis treatment, the Vatican said.This ... Read More
Ukraine working on new potential deal with US over mineral resources: Sources
TETIANA DZHAFAROVA/POOL/AFP via Getty Images) (LONDON) -- Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy's team is working on an updated agreement between Ukraine and the United States for Ukraine to agree to give the U.S. revenue from some of Ukraine's most valuable resources, a Ukrainian official told ABC News.A U.S. official with knowledge of the negotiations said a new version of the deal between the two countries has been put on the table.The document currently on the table is a work in progress after the Trump administration initially proposed Ukraine provide the U.S. government with 50% of the revenue from some of its key resources, including minerals, oil, gas and ports a week ago, according to a draft document reviewed by ABC News ... Read More
Netanyahu vows ‘revenge’ after Israel says Hamas sent back wrong body for Shiri Bibas
(Photo by Kayla Bartkowski/Getty Images)(LONDON) -- Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu vowed "revenge" on Friday after the Israeli military said one of the four bodies recently released by Hamas did not include a hostage.Hamas, the militant group that governs the war-torn Gaza Strip, said it had handed over the remains of four deceased Israeli hostages on Thursday: 32-year-old Shiri Bibas; her two children -- Ariel Bibas, 4, and Kfir Bibas, 8 1/2 months; and 84-year-old Oded Lifshitz.After conducting a forensic analysis, Israeli officials positively identified three of the returned bodies as Lifshitz and the Bibas children but said the fourth was not that of their mother nor any other hostage, according to the Israel Defense Forces, which accused Hamas of committing a ... Read More
Ukraine reels as Trump criticism echoes Russian disinformation campaign
ABC NewsLONDON -- Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy said President Donald Trump is in a "disinformation space" as public recriminations between the two leaders deepened on Wednesday amid nascent talks to end Russia's three-year-old full-scale invasion of its neighbor.The series of attacks, Zelenskyy suggested, were informed in part by "disinformation," which the Ukrainian president said "comes from Russia -- and we have evidence."Trump called Zelenskyy a "dictator without elections," claiming -- without providing evidence -- that his Ukrainian counterpart's approval rating was as low as 4%. Trump also wrote on Truth Social that Zelenskyy "better move fast or he is not going to have a Country left."Trump's apparent push for new elections in Ukraine aligns with longstanding Kremlin talking points framing ... Read More
Ukraine should ‘tone it down,’ sign Trump mineral deal, Waltz says
A view of the destruction after Russian forces launched a guided aerial bomb (KAB) attack, in Kherson, Ukraine on February 19, 2025. As a result of attack fifteen apartments were destroyed. At least 6 people wounded, including two 14-year-old children. (Photo by State Emergency Service of Ukraine/Handout/Anadolu via Getty Images)(LONDON) -- National Security Adviser Mike Waltz said Thursday that officials in Kyiv "need to tone it down" after a fierce back and forth between President Donald Trump and Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy related to a potential deal to end Russia's three-year-old invasion of its neighbor.U.S.-Russia talks began this week in Saudi Arabia without Ukrainian participation, Kyiv's exclusion prompting condemnation in Ukraine and across Europe as well as a vow from Zelenskyy that his ... Read More
IDF says 1 of 4 bodies returned to Israel from Hamas does not belong to a hostage
(Photo by Ali Jadallah/Anadolu via Getty Images)(LONDON) -- One of the four bodies handed over from Gaza to Israel on Thursday does not include a hostage, the Israel Defense Forces said, calling it a "very serious violation" by Hamas.Thursday marked the latest return of deceased hostages as part of the group's ceasefire deal with Israel. Israel and Hamas had confirmed the names of the four bodies returned to Israel Thursday as Oded Lifshitz, a journalist and peace activist, and Shiri Bibas and her two children -- Ariel and Kfir Bibas.After Israeli officials conducted forensic analysis to confirm the identities of the bodies, the IDF said the bodies of Lifshitz and Shiri Bibas' two children were identified. But the fourth body ... Read More
Pope Francis’ condition ‘stationary’ after pneumonia diagnosis: Vatican
Alessandra Benedetti - Corbis/Corbis via Getty Images(LONDON and ROME) -- Pope Francis' condition appears to be "stationary," the Vatican said on Wednesday, following his pneumonia diagnosis."Blood tests, evaluated by the medical staff, show slight improvement, particularly in inflammatory indices," the Vatican press office said in a statement.The pope was admitted to a hospital on Friday for tests and to continue his ongoing bronchitis treatment, the Vatican said.He was subsequently determined to have a respiratory tract infection, the Vatican said. On Tuesday, the Vatican updated that he also has the "onset of bilateral pneumonia," saying tests, a chest X-ray and the pope's clinical condition present a "complex picture."Italy's prime minister, Giorgia Meloni, visited the pope in the hospital on Wednesday, the Vatican ... Read More
Delta plane crash latest: ‘Extreme conditions’ at Toronto airport in days before crash
Geoff Robins/AFP via Getty Images(TORONTO) -- As investigators work to determine what caused Delta Flight 4819 to crash and overturn at Toronto Pearson International Airport on Monday, the Toronto Pearson president and CEO noted the "extreme conditions" at the airport in the days before the dramatic incident.Toronto Pearson President and CEO Deborah Flint said that from Thursday to Sunday there were "extreme conditions" at the airport from two separate storms."On Thursday and Sunday, we got more than 20 inches, 50 centimeters of accumulated snow. That is actually not typical. In fact, it is more snow within that time window than we received in all of last winter," Flint said at a news conference Tuesday. "There were many delays and cancelations ... Read More
Trump calls Zelenskyy ‘dictator’ as Ukraine leader slams him for ‘disinformation’
ABC News(LONDON) -- Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy hit back at President Donald Trump's call for the country to hold fresh presidential elections following Tuesday's historic Russia-U.S. talks in Saudi Arabia.The U.S.-Russia talks in Riyadh -- to which Ukraine was not invited -- represented "an important step forward" toward ending Russia's three-year-old invasion of its neighbor, according to a State Department readout.Hours after the talks concluded, Trump told reporters at Mar-a-Lago that Zelenskyy's public approval rating was "down to 4%," failing to provide a source for the figure. Russian President Vladimir Putin has also repeatedly framed Zelenskyy as illegitimate, citing the postponement of the country's 2024 presidential elections due to martial law.During a Wednesday press conference in Kyiv, Zelenskyy challenged Trump's claim, pointing to respected ... Read More
What scientists learned from a well-preserved fossil of this iconic Jurassic-era dinosaur
Daniel Eskridg/iStockphoto/Getty Images(LONDON) -- The discovery of a well-preserved fossil is helping researchers learn more about an iconic Jurassic-period dinosaur.The plesiosaur, considered a successful marine predatory dinosaur, may have been aided in its underwater hunting endeavors by turtle-like scales that covered its body -- which scientists have now discovered due to the presence of soft tissue in a newly unearthed fossil, according to a paper published earlier this month in Current Biology.Researchers from Lund University in Sweden have been analyzing the soft tissue from a 183 million-year-old plesiosaur for the first time in history after the fossil was found intact near Holzmaden, Germany.Fossilized soft tissue, such as skin and internal organs, is "exceptionally rare" in dinosaur fossils, Miguel Marx, a Ph.D. ... Read More
Hamas to release 6 more hostages, bodies of 4 others
Mostafa Alkharouf/Anadolu via Getty Images(LONDON) -- Hamas will release six more hostages on Saturday and the bodies of four deceased hostages on Thursday, Hamas and Israel confirmed.Four more dead hostages are expected to be released next week in accordance with the ceasefire agreement, according to Israeli officials.The hostages who will be released on Saturday have been identified as Eliya Cohen, 27; Tal Shoham, 40; Omer Shem Tov, 22; Omer Wenkrat, 23; Hisham Al-Sayed, 36; and Avera Mengistu, 39, according to Israeli officials and the Hostages and Missing Families ForumHamas accused Israel of procrastinating and evading engaging in the negotiations of the second phase and said it is ready to engage in negotiations to implement the terms of the second phase of the ... Read More
Putin apologizes for ‘tragic incident’ but stops short of saying Azerbaijani plane was shot down
MOSCOW (AP) — Russian President Vladimir Putin on Saturday apologized to his Azerbaijani counterpart for what he called a “tragic incident” following the crash of an Azerbaijani airliner in Kazakhstan that killed 38 people, but stopped short of acknowledging that Moscow was responsible. Putin’s apology came as allegations mounted that the plane had been shot down by Russian air defenses attempting to deflect a Ukrainian drone strike near Grozny, the regional capital of the Russian republic of Chechnya. An official Kremlin statement issued Saturday said that air defense systems were firing near Grozny airport as the airliner “repeatedly” attempted to land there on Wednesday. It did not explicitly say one of these hit the plane. The statement said Putin apologized ... Read More
What we know about the shooter
WASHINGTON (AP) — The man identified as the shooter in the apparent assassination attempt of former President Donald Trump was a 20-year-old from a Pittsburgh suburb not far from the campaign rally where one attendee was killed. Investigators were working Sunday to gather more information about Thomas Matthew Crooks of Bethel Park, Pennsylvania, who they say opened fire at the rally before being killed by Secret Service days before Trump was to accept the Republican nomination for a third time. An FBI official said late Saturday that investigators had not yet determined a motive. Two spectators were critically injured, authorities said. Relatives of Crooks didn’t immediately respond to messages from The Associated Press. His father, Matthew Crooks, told CNN late ... Read MorePrayers for Trump also pour in from political rivals
Prayers for the former president are also coming from his political opponents. “I am horrified by what happened at the Trump rally in Pennsylvania and relieved that former President Trump is safe. Political violence has no place in our country,†said Sen. Chuck Schumer in a statement. “We should all condemn what happened today and I am hoping for the health of the former president and everyone else at the rally,†Democratic Sen. Chris Murphy posted on the social platform X. House Democratic Leader Hakeem Jeffries said in a post on X that his “thoughts and prayers are with former President Trump†and expressed thanks “for the decisive law enforcement response.†... Read MoreWikiLeaks founder facing pivotal moment in long fight to stay out of US court
LONDON -- The host of a news conference about WikiLeaks founder Julian Assange's extradition fight wryly welcomed journalists last week to the “millionth†press briefing on his court case. Deborah Bonetti, director of the Foreign Press Association, was only half joking. Assange’s legal saga has dragged on for well over a decade but it could come to an end in the U.K. as soon as Monday. Assange faces a hearing in London's High Court that could end with him being sent to the U.S. to face espionage charges, or provide him another chance to appeal his extradition. The outcome will depend on how much weight judges give to reassurances U.S. officials have provided that Assange's rights won't be trampled if ... Read More
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