Hamas on Friday released 24 hostages it held captive in Gaza for weeks, and Israel freed 39 Palestinians from prison in the first stage of a swap under a four-day cease-fire that offered a small glimmer of relief to both sides. Israel -- wrenched by the abduction of nearly 240 people in Hamas’ Oct. 7 attack that triggered the war -- cheered as 13 Israeli women and children emerged free from Gaza. Most were in their 70s or 80s, and the youngest was a 2-year-old. Also released were 10 pe

World News Nov. 25, 2023

THE HAGUE, Netherlands (AP) -- There's one thing that's certain for Dutch voters casting ballots Wednesday in a general election: Mark Rutte, the Netherlands' longest-serving prime minister, is on the way out . All the rest is up in the air in a knife-edge vote. Rutte's replacement after 13 years in office could be the country’s first female premier or a social democrat who left his job as the European Union's climate czar to return to national politics. The next p

World News Nov. 22, 2023

LONDON (AP) — King Charles III hosted South Korean President Yoon Suk Yeol and his wife at a glittering banquet at Buckingham Palace Tuesday, as Britain rolled out the red carpet for a formal state visit aimed at strengthening trade and defense ties between the two countries. The UK government hopes the Korean leader's three-day visit will help cement an “Indo-Pacific tilt ” in its foreign and trade policy. The king and Queen Camilla hosted Yoon and first lady Kim Keon H

Foreign Affairs Nov. 22, 2023

KHAN YOUNIS, Gaza Strip (AP) -- At least 30 premature babies were evacuated from Gaza’s main hospital on Sunday and will be transferred to facilities in Egypt, the territory’s Health Ministry said. Medhat Abbas, a spokesman for the ministry, confirmed the evacuation in a phone call with The Associated Press. A World Health Organization team that visited Shifa Hospital on Saturday said 32 babies were among scores of critically ill patients stranded at the hospital, where Israeli force

World News Nov. 19, 2023

Hundreds of patients, medical staff and people displaced by Israel's war against Hamas left Gaza’s largest hospital Saturday, with one evacuee describing a panicked and chaotic scene as Israeli forces searched and face-scanned men among those leaving and took some away. Israel’s military has been searching Gaza City's Shifa Hospital for a Hamas command center that it alleges is located under the facility — a claim Hamas and hospital staff deny . The evacuation, which

World News Nov. 19, 2023

MOSCOW, Russia — Russian President Vladimir Putin has approved changes to the law that governs presidential elections putting new restrictions on media coverage, local news agencies reported on Tuesday. The changes come ahead of the election to be held in March in which Putin, who has ruled Russia for the last 24 years, is expected to seek a new six-year term. Putin, 71, has not declared whether he will run, saying he will announce that only after the parliament formally sets the election

World News Nov. 14, 2023

South Korean President Yoon Suk Yeol slammed the purported illicit arms deal between North Korea and Russia, saying he’ll emphasize its far-reaching security implications and discuss international response during the Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation summit in San Francisco this week. In written responses to questions from The Associated Press ahead of the APEC meeting, Yoon also said that North Korean provocations will invite immediate retaliation by South Korean and US forces. There are

Foreign Affairs Nov. 14, 2023

KYIV, Ukraine (AP) — Russian forces have ramped up attacks in eastern Ukraine in an attempt to gain ground near two key front line cities, Ukrainian military officials said Sunday. Moscow's troops have begun a push to regain territory near Bakhmut, the eastern mining city that was the site of the war’s bloodiest battle before falling into Russian hands in May, the head of Ukraine’s ground forces wrote on the Telegram messaging app. Ukrainian troops had recaptured the hei

World News Nov. 12, 2023

RAFAH, Gaza Strip — The United States and Arab partners disagreed Saturday on the need for an immediate cease-fire in the Gaza Strip as Israeli military strikes killed civilians at a UN shelter and a hospital, and Israel said the besieged enclave’s Hamas rulers were “encountering the full force” of its troops. Large columns of smoke rose as Israel’s military said it had encircled Gaza City, the initial target of its offensive to crush Hamas. Gaza’s Health Mini

World News Nov. 5, 2023

KATHMANDU, Nepal — Survivors of a strong earthquake that shook Nepal’s northwest in the middle of the night described sudden shaking followed by houses collapsing and burying entire families, as the death toll rose to 157 on Saturday. Most of those killed were crushed by debris when their houses — usually made by stacking rocks and logs — crumbled under the force of the tremblor midnight Friday, local media reported. While rescuers were scrambling to rush aid, operations

World News Nov. 5, 2023

From Washington to Milan to Paris, tens of thousands of pro-Palestinian demonstrators marched Saturday, calling for a halt to Israel’s bombardment of Gaza . The marches reflected growing disquiet about the mounting civilian casualty toll and suffering from the Israel-Hamas war . Protesters, particularly in countries with large Muslim populations, including the US, UK and France, expressed disillusionment with their governments for supporting Israel while its bombardments of hospitals and

World News Nov. 5, 2023

KATHMANDU, Nepal (AP) — Helicopters and ground troops rushed to help people hurt in a strong earthquake that shook districts in northwestern Nepal just before midnight Friday, killing at least 128 people and injuring dozens more, officials said Saturday. Authorities said the death toll was expected to rise, noting that communications were cut off with many places. At the regional hospital in the city of Nepalgunj, more than 100 beds were made available and teams of doctors stood by to help

World News Nov. 4, 2023

BUREIJ REFUGEE CAMP, Gaza Strip (AP) — The gray film covering the faces of children rushed to Al-Aqsa Hospital in central Gaza Thursday made it hard to distinguish between the living and the dead. After two Israeli airstrikes flattened an entire block of apartment buildings in the Bureij refugee camp and damaged two UN schools-turned-shelters, rubble-covered Palestinians big and small arrived at a hospital too packed to take them. Tiny, motionless bodies lay flat against the hospital&rsq

Foreign Affairs Nov. 3, 2023

DEIR AL-BALAH, Gaza Strip -- More than 3,600 Palestinian children were killed in the first 25 days of the war between Israel and Hamas, according to Gaza's Hamas-run Health Ministry. They were hit by airstrikes, smashed by misfired rockets, burned by blasts and crushed by buildings, and among them were newborns and toddlers, avid readers, aspiring journalists and boys who thought they'd be safe in a church. Nearly half of the crowded strip's 2.3 million inhabitants are under 18, a

World News Nov. 2, 2023

In a little more than five years -- sometime in early 2029 -- the world will likely be unable to stay below the internationally agreed temperature limit for global warming if it continues to burn fossil fuels at its current rate, a new study says. The study moves three years closer the date when the world will eventually hit a critical climate threshold, which is an increase of 1.5 degrees Celsius since the 1800s. Beyond that temperature increase, the risks of catastrophes increase, as the world

World News Oct. 31, 2023