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Fragile Gaza truce appears to hold as Hamas release more hostages

Published Fri, 21 Feb 2025 14:50:14 GMT

The fragile cease-fire between Israel and Hamas appeared to hold on Sunday as the Palestinian militant group freed 17 more hostages in exchange for 39 Palestinian prisoners released from Israel jails, in a third set of releases under a four-day truce.The released detainees included 14 Israelis and and three foreign nationals, including the first American detainee. Some hostages were handed over directly to Israel, while others left through Egypt, the Associated Press reported.The U.S. said it hoped the pause in fighting would be extended.Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s office earlier Sunday received a list of the names of the hostages set to be freed and informed the families, Israeli media reported on Sunday. According to Haaretz, at least one of the hostages to be released was Russian and part of a deal between Hamas and Moscow. The exchanges are part of a four-day truce agreement brokered by Qatar, Egypt and the U.S. that started on Friday. Overall, Hamas is set to free...

Russia, Ukraine trade drone attacks

Published Fri, 21 Feb 2025 14:50:14 GMT

Ukraine overnight tried to attack Moscow with dozens of drones, Russian authorities said Sunday, just a day after Ukrainian officials reported that Russia had launched its most intense drone attack on Kyiv since the beginning of its full-scale war in 2022.Russian air defenses brought down at least 24 drones over the Moscow region — which surrounds but does not include the capital — and four other provinces to the south and west, the Russian Defense Ministry and Moscow mayor Sergei Sobyanin reported in a series of Telegram updates. Neither referenced any casualties.Andrei Vorobyev, governor of the Moscow region, wrote on Telegram that the drone strikes damaged three unspecified buildings there, adding that no one was hurt.One drone crashed into a 12-story apartment block in the western Russian city of Tula, about 113 miles south of Moscow, lightly wounding one resident and causing limited damage, local Gov. Aleksei Dyumin wrote on Telegram on Sunday morning.Moscow’s Vnukovo and...

Nebraska woman bags marriage proposal shortly after killing big buck on hunting trip

Published Fri, 21 Feb 2025 14:50:14 GMT

OMAHA, Neb. (AP) — A Nebraska woman bagged a marriage proposal earlier this month along with a big buck during a recent deer hunting trip.Samantha Camenzind’s boyfriend not only gave her the first shot at the deer they had spotted on a trail camera south of Lincoln, but then surprised her by popping the question in the middle of a photo shoot with the prized trophy — a giant buck with 11 tines on one side of its antlers and nine on the other.“Everybody has been saying they would marry him, too, if he let them shoot this big of a deer,” Camenzind, 28, who lives in Omaha, told the Omaha World-Herald.In three years of dating one of the things the couple bonded over is their shared love of hunting. They process and eat the meat of what they kill.Cole Bures said he didn’t have any problem letting Camenzind take the first shot at the buck“I was just as excited as she was when she got it,” the 32-year-old from Filley, Nebraska said.Then Bures told Camenzind that he wanted a pro...

Syria says an Israeli airstrike hit the Damascus airport and put it out of service

Published Fri, 21 Feb 2025 14:50:14 GMT

BEIRUT (AP) — An Israeli airstrike Sunday hit the international airport in the Syrian capital of Damascus and put it out of commission, Syrian state media said. Israel has struck Syria’s Damascus and Aleppo international airports several times since the onset of the Hamas-Israel war in Gaza on Oct. 7. Israel has also struck parts of western Syria after rocket fire landed on the Israeli-occupied Syrian Golan Heights. SANA, citing an unnamed military official, said Israel fired missiles from the direction of the Golan Heights, striking Damascus International Airport and other areas in the Damascus countryside causing material damage. There was no mention of casualties.Britain-based opposition war monitor, the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights, said the strikes came just hours after the airport resumed flights after a monthlong hiatus following a previous Israeli strike.Israel has carried out hundreds of strikes on targets inside government-controlled parts of war-torn Syria in...

Biden says 4-year-old Abigail Edan was released by Hamas. He hopes more U.S. hostages will be freed

Published Fri, 21 Feb 2025 14:50:14 GMT

NANTUCKET, Mass. (AP) — President Joe Biden confirmed Sunday that Abigail Edan, a 4-year-old American girl held hostage by Hamas after her parents were killed, was released as part of the cease-fire deal in the Israel-Hamas war and was “safely in Israel.” “Thank God she’s home.” Biden said told reporters. “I wish I were there to hold her.”She was the first American hostage to be released under terms of the cease-fire. Biden said he did not have immediate information on Abigail’s condition. Hamas militants stormed her kibbutz, Kfar Azza, on Oct. 7 and killed her parents. She ran to a neighbor’s home for shelter, and the Brodutch family — mother Hagar and her three children — took Abigail in as the rampage raged. Then all five disappeared and were later confirmed to be captives. They were among the more than 200 people taken to Gaza in the attack that touched off the war. Abigail had a birthday in captivity. Before the cease-fire, the first hostages were released on Oct. 17 — Judith a...

Police say three dead, two injured in shooting in downtown Winnipeg

Published Fri, 21 Feb 2025 14:50:14 GMT

Winnipeg police say three people are dead and two have critical injuries after a shooting this morning in the city’s downtown core.Const. Jason Michalyshen told reporters outside police headquarters that officers were called to a residence shortly after 4 a.m. local time, where they located five people with injuries consistent with being shot.A man and a woman were pronounced dead at the scene, while the remaining three people were transported to hospital.One of those, a man, has since died and police say a man and a woman remain in hospital in critical condition.Michalyshen says there are no arrests in the case that he can acknowledge, and he did not know what, if any, relationship exists among the people involved. He also wouldn’t say if there are one or multiple suspects, noting the investigation is in its early stages and is fluid.This report by The Canadian Press was first published Nov. 26, 2023.The Canadian Press

Quebec police watchdog investigates death of man allegedly struck by stolen car

Published Fri, 21 Feb 2025 14:50:14 GMT

LONGUEUIL, Que. — Quebec’s police watchdog is investigating after a driver allegedly fleeing police in a stolen car struck and killed a man in his 60s in Longueuil, Que.The agency, known as the Bureau des enquêtes indépendantes, says police in the Montreal suburb received a call about a stolen car shortly before 6 p.m. on Saturday.It issued a news release saying officers in a patrol car found the stolen vehicle about half an hour later and began following in order to intercept it. But the officers quickly lost sight of the vehicle, which struck the pedestrian about five minutes after police began following it.The pedestrian was transported to hospital, where he was declared dead.One of the occupants of the vehicle was also injured and is now in hospital in stable condition.This report by The Canadian Press was first published Nov. 26, 2023. The Canadian Press

4 teens from North York and Richmond Hill deceased after collision in Huntsville

Published Fri, 21 Feb 2025 14:50:14 GMT

Huntsville OPP responded to the scene of a two-vehicle collision on Highway 60 near Hidden Valley Road in Huntsville on Saturday night, resulting in the death of five people, including four teens from North York and Richmond Hill.At approximately 11:10 p.m., Huntsville OPP received a report of a serious collision involving a westbound Mercedes SUV and an eastbound Ford SUV on Highway 60.Four teens were in the Mercedes, between the ages of 15 and 17 years of age, all from the North York and Richmond Hill areas. They were all pronounced dead at the scene.The driver of the Ford was a 42-year-old female from Huntsville who was transported to Huntsville Memorial Hospital. She later succumbed to her injuries. Highway 60 remained closed while police investigated.No further information has been released at this time.

4 found dead near North Carolina homeless camp; 3 shot before shooter killed self, police say

Published Fri, 21 Feb 2025 14:50:14 GMT

AUTRYVILLE, N.C. (AP) — Deputies responding to a call about shots fired in North Carolina on Sunday found four people shot to death in what appeared to be a campsite for homeless people, authorities said.An initial review of the crime scene indicated someone killed three people before killing themselves, Sampson County Sheriff’s Capt. Eric Pope told WRAL-TV.Two men and two women were found dead around a tent at the end of a private road rutted with huge potholes near Autryville, authorities said.The names of the people killed have not been released and Pope said investigators are still collecting evidence to determine exactly how the shootings unfolded.Autryville is about 55 miles (90 kilometers) south of Raleigh, the state capital.The Associated Press

An alliance of Myanmar ethnic groups claim capture of another big trade crossing at Chinese border

Published Fri, 21 Feb 2025 14:50:14 GMT

BANGKOK (AP) — An alliance of armed ethnic minority groups that launched a surprise offensive last month against Myanmar’s military has seized a major trading gate on the country’s northeastern border with China, a spokesperson for one of the groups said Sunday.Le Kyar Win, the spokesperson of the Myanmar National Democratic Alliance Army, told The Associated Press that the Kyin-San-Kyawt border gate, one of the five major trading gates in Muse township along the Myanmar-China border in northern Shan state, was seized on Saturday by the alliance forces.Muse hosts the 105-Mile Trade Zone and has the greatest volume of trade with China. It is the fourth border crossing seized by the alliance forces in a month of intense fighting.“We attacked the places controlled by the junta as our military targets,” Le Kyar Win said.Social media sites associated with the Myanmar National Democratic Alliance Army displayed photos and video of what they said were its forces at the border gate. The cla...