Trump envoy confirms that Hamas has agreed to release the last living US hostage in Gaza

DEIR AL-BALAH, Gaza Strip (AP) — Hamas said Sunday that the last living American hostage in Gaza, Edan Alexander, will be released as part of efforts to establish a ceasefire, reopen crossings into the Israeli-blockaded territory and resume the delivery of aid. Two Hamas officials told The Associated Press they expect the release in the next 48 hours.

U.S. President Donald Trump’s envoy Steve Witkoff confirmed late Sunday in a message to AP that Hamas had agreed to release Alexander as a good will gesture toward Trump.

The announcement of the first hostage release since Israel shattered a ceasefire in March comes shortly before Trump visits the Middle East this week. It highlighted the willingness of Israel's closest ally to inject momentum into ceasefire talks for the 19-month war as desperation grows among hostages' families and Gaza's over 2 million people under the new Israeli blockade.

"This was a step taken in good faith towards the United States and the efforts of the mediators — Qatar and Egypt — to put an end to this very brutal war and return ALL living hostages and remains to their loved ones," Trump said on his social media platform Truth Social on Sunday evening. “Hopefully this is the first of those final steps necessary to end this brutal conflict. I look very much forward to that day of celebration!”

Alexander is an Israeli-American soldier who grew up in New Jersey. He was abducted from his base during the Oct. 7, 2023, Hamas-led attack that ignited the war in Gaza.

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Zelenskyy hopes for ceasefire with Russia and challenges Putin to meet him in Turkey 'personally'

KYIV, Ukraine (AP) — Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy on Sunday challenged Russia’s President Vladimir Putin to meet him personally in Turkey on Thursday, the latest move in a weekend-long exchange of proposals from both sides on the next steps in the U.S.-led peace effort.

Zelenskyy said that he still hopes for a ceasefire with Russia starting Monday, and that he will “be waiting for Putin” in Turkey “personally” after U.S. President Donald Trump insisted Ukraine accept Russia’s latest offer — to hold direct talks in Turkey on Thursday. Ukraine, along with European allies, had demanded Russia accept an unconditional 30-day ceasefire starting Monday before holding talks, but Moscow effectively rejected the proposal and called for direct negotiations instead.

It was not clear if Zelenskyy was conditioning his presence in Turkey on the Monday ceasefire holding, and there was no immediate comment from the Kremlin on whether Putin would go. In 2022, the war’s early months, Zelenskyy repeatedly called for a personal meeting with the Russian president but was rebuffed, and eventually enacted a decree declaring that holding negotiations with Putin had become impossible.

“We await a full and lasting ceasefire, starting from tomorrow, to provide the necessary basis for diplomacy. There is no point in prolonging the killings. And I will be waiting for Putin in (Turkey) on Thursday. Personally. I hope that this time the Russians will not look for excuses,” Zelenskyy wrote on X on Sunday.

Trump said in a social media post earlier Sunday that Ukraine should agree to Putin's peace talks proposal “IMMEDIATELY.”

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US touts 'substantial progress' in tariff talks with China, but details are still scarce

GENEVA (AP) — The lead U.S. negotiator in trade talks with China cheered “a great deal of productivity” in resolving differences between the world’s two leading economic powers, after officials wrapped two days of bargaining in Switzerland following President Donald Trump imposing steep tariffs and Beijing retaliating.

U.S. Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent said Sunday there was “substantial progress” in the weekend sessions but offered scant information on exactly what negotiations entailed. He said more details would come at a briefing Monday.

U.S. Trade Representative Jamieson Greer suggested that an agreement had been reached but provided no details. He and Bessent briefly addressed reporters once talks had wrapped at the stately villa that serves as the residence of the Swiss ambassador to the United Nations in Geneva, but did not take questions.

“It’s important to understand how quickly we were able to come to agreement, which reflects that perhaps the differences were not so large as far as maybe thought,” Greer said. But he also stressed that a top Trump priority means closing the U.S. trade deficit with China, which came to a record $263 billion last year.

“We’re confident that the deal we struck with our Chinese partners will help us to resolve, work towards resolving that national emergency,” Greer said.

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India claims its strikes inside Pakistan territory last week killed over 100 militants

ISLAMABAD (AP) — India’s military strikes into Pakistan-controlled Kashmir and Pakistan earlier this week killed more than 100 militants including prominent leaders, the head of India's military operations claimed Sunday.

Lt. Gen. Rajiv Ghai, the director general of military operations, said India’s armed forces struck nine militant infrastructure and training facilities, including sites of the Lashkar-e-Taiba group that India blames for carrying out major militant strikes in India and the disputed region of Kashmir.

“We achieved total surprise,” Ghai said at a news conference in New Delhi, adding Pakistan’s response was “erratic and rattled.”

The two countries agreed to a truce a day earlier after talks to defuse their most serious military confrontation in decades. The two armies exchanged gunfire, artillery strikes, missiles and drones that killed dozens of people.

As part of the ceasefire, the nuclear-armed neighbors agreed to immediately stop all military action on land, in the air and at sea. On Sunday, Pakistan's military said it did not ask for ceasefire, as claimed by India, but rather it was India that had sought the ceasefire.

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Trump defends the prospect of Qatar gifting him a plane to use as Air Force One

WASHINGTON (AP) — President Donald Trump is ready to accept a luxury Boeing 747-8 jumbo jet as a gift from the ruling family of Qatar during his trip to the Middle East this coming week, and U.S. officials say it could be converted into a potential presidential aircraft.

The Qatari government said a final decision hadn't been made. Still, Trump defended the idea — what would amount to a president accepting an astonishingly valuable gift from a foreign government — as a fiscally smart move for the country.

“So the fact that the Defense Department is getting a GIFT, FREE OF CHARGE, of a 747 aircraft to replace the 40 year old Air Force One, temporarily, in a very public and transparent transaction, so bothers the Crooked Democrats that they insist we pay, TOP DOLLAR, for the plane,” Trump posted on his social media site on Sunday night. “Anybody can do that!”

ABC News reported that Trump will use the aircraft as his presidential plane until shortly before he leaves office in January 2029, when ownership will be transferred to the foundation overseeing his yet-to-be-built presidential library.

The gift was expected to be announced when Trump visits Qatar, according to ABC's report, as part of a trip that also includes stops in Saudi Arabia and the United Arab Emirates, the first extended foreign travel of his second term.

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Trump promises to order that the US pay only the price other nations do for some drugs

WASHINGTON (AP) — President Donald Trump says he'll sign an executive order on Monday that, if implemented, could bring down the costs of some medications — reviving a failed effort from his first term on an issue he's talked up since even before becoming president.

The order Trump is promising will direct the Department of Health and Human Services to tie what Medicare pays for medications administrated in a doctor's office to the lowest price paid by other countries.

“I will be instituting a MOST FAVORED NATION’S POLICY whereby the United States will pay the same price as the Nation that pays the lowest price anywhere in the World,” the president posted Sunday on his social media site, pledging to sign the order on Monday morning at the White House.

“Our Country will finally be treated fairly, and our citizens Healthcare Costs will be reduced by numbers never even thought of before,” Trump added.

His proposal would likely only impact certain drugs covered by Medicare and given in an office — think infusions that treat cancer, and other injectables. But it could potentially bring significant savings to the government, although the “TRILLIONS OF DOLLARS” Trump boasted about in his post may be an exaggeration.

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Zepbound beats Wegovy for weight loss in first head-to-head trial of blockbuster drugs

People taking Eli Lilly's obesity drug, Zepbound, lost nearly 50% more weight than those using rival Novo Nordisk's Wegovy in the first head-to-head study of the blockbuster medications.

Clinical trial participants who took tirzepatide, the drug sold as Zepbound, lost an average of 50 pounds (22.8 kilograms) over 72 weeks, while those who took semaglutide, or Wegovy, lost about 33 pounds (15 kilograms). That's according to the study funded by Lilly, which was published Sunday in the New England Journal of Medicine.

Both drugs are part of a new class of medications that work by mimicking hormones in the gut and brain that regulate appetite and feelings of fullness. But tirzepatide targets two such hormones, known as GLP-1 and GIP, while semaglutide targets GLP-1 alone, said Dr. Louis Aronne, director of the Comprehensive Weight Control Center at Weill Cornell Medicine.

“Two drugs together can produce better weight loss,” said Aronne, who led the study and presented the findings Sunday at the European Congress on Obesity in Spain.

While tirzepatide won out in what Aronne said many view as “a drag race of efficacy,” both are important tools for treating obesity, which affects about 40% of American adults.

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Detained ex-President Duterte is among the candidates in Philippines midterms

MANILA, Philippines (AP) — Even though he is detained in The Hague, former Philippine President Rodrigo Duterte is among the candidates vying for some 18,000 national and local seats in Monday's midterm elections that analysts say will decide if he and his family continue to hold political power.

Duterte has been in custody of the International Criminal Court since March, awaiting trial for crimes against humanity over a brutal war on illegal drugs that has left thousands of suspects dead during his presidency 2016-2022. It hasn't stopped him from running for mayor of his southern Davao city stronghold.

Under Philippine law, candidates facing criminal charges, including those in detention, can run for office unless they have been convicted and have exhausted all appeals.

Duterte is widely expected to win as Davao mayor, a position he held for over two decades before becoming president. It's less clear how he can practically serve as mayor from behind bars.

Over 68 million Filipinos have registered to vote Monday for half of the 24-member Senate, all the 317 seats in the House of Representatives and various positions in provinces, cities and municipalities. The spotlight is on the race for the Senate that could determine the political future of Duterte's daughter, Vice President Sara Duterte.

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First group of 49 white South Africans leaves for the US after Trump offered them refugee status

CAPE TOWN, South Africa (AP) — A group of 49 white South Africans departed their homeland Sunday for the United States on a private charter plane having been offered refugee status by the Trump administration under a new program announced in February.

The group, which included families and small children, was due to arrive at Dulles International Airport outside Washington on Monday morning local time, according to Collen Msibi, a spokesperson for South Africa's transport ministry.

They are the first Afrikaners — a white minority group in South Africa — to be relocated after U.S. President Donald Trump issued an executive order on Feb. 7 accusing South Africa's Black-led government of racial discrimination against them and announcing a program to offer them relocation to America.

The South African government said it is “completely false” that Afrikaners are being persecuted.

The Trump administration has fast-tracked their applications while pausing other refugee programs, halting arrivals from Afghanistan, Iraq, most of sub-Saharan Africa and other countries in a move being challenged in court.

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Another Newark airport disruption as Trump's transportation secretary talks of reducing flights

Transportation Secretary Sean Duffy says he plans to reduce the number of flights in and out of Newark's airport for the “next several weeks” as it struggles with radar outages and other issues, including another Sunday that again slowed air traffic.

Speaking on NBC’s “Meet the Press" that aired Sunday, Duffy said he will meet this week with all major carriers flying through Newark Liberty International, New Jersey’s largest airport. He said the number of flight cutbacks would fluctuate by time of day with most targeting afternoon hours when international arrivals make the airport busier.

In addition to equipment outages, the airport has been been beset by flight delays and cancellations brought on by a shortage of air traffic controllers.

“We want to have a number of flights that if you book your flight, you know it’s going to fly, right?” he said. “That is the priority. So you don’t get to the airport, wait four hours, and then get delayed.”

The Federal Aviation Administration reported a “telecommunications issue” as the latest setback Sunday, impacting a facility in Philadelphia that directs planes in and out of Newark airport. An FAA statement said the agency briefly slowed air traffic to and from the airport while ensuring “redundancies were working as designed” before normal operations resumed.

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