Hamas frees 3 hostages, Israel releases hundreds of prisoners as fragile ceasefire holds

KHAN YOUNIS, Gaza Strip (AP) — Hamas-led militants released three male Israeli hostages Saturday and Israeli forces began releasing hundreds of prisoners in return, in the latest indication that a fragile ceasefire that has paused fighting in the Gaza Strip but had teetered in recent days, is holding.

Militants in the southern Gaza Strip paraded the three hostages — Iair Horn, 46, a dual citizen of Israel and Argentina; American-Israeli Sagui Dekel Chen, 36; and Russian-Israeli Alexander (Sasha) Troufanov, 29 — before a crowd before releasing them.

All had been abducted from Kibbutz Nir Oz, a community that was hard-hit in the Oct. 7, 2023, attack that ignited the war. They appeared pale and worn, but seemed in better physical condition than the three men released last Saturday, who had emerged emaciated from 16 months of captivity.

The truce that began nearly four weeks ago had been jeopardized in recent days by a tense dispute that threatened to renew the fighting.

U.S. President Donald Trump’s controversial proposal to remove more than 2 million Palestinians from Gaza and settle them elsewhere in the region has cast even more doubt on the future of the ceasefire.

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Zelenskyy says time has come for the creation of 'armed forces of Europe'

MUNICH (AP) — Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy said Saturday the time has come for the creation of an “armed forces of Europe” and that his country’s fight against Russia has proved that a foundation for it already exists.

The Ukrainian leader said Europe cannot rule out the possibility that “American might say no to Europe on issues that threaten it,” and noted that many leaders have long spoken about how Europe needs its own military.

“I really believe that time has come,” Zelenskyy told the Munich Security Conference. “The armed forces of Europe must be created.”

Zelenskyy also alluded to a phone conversation between U.S. President Donald Trump and Russian President Vladimir Putin, after which Trump said the two leaders would likely meet soon to negotiate a peace deal over Ukraine. Trump later assured Zelenskyy that he, too, would have a seat at the table to end the war that was sparked by Russia’s full-scale invasion of Ukraine in 2022.

“Ukraine will never accept deals made behind our backs without our involvement, and the same rule should apply to all of Europe," Zelenskyy said.

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Anger, chaos and confusion take hold as federal workers face mass layoffs

NEW YORK (AP) — Workers across the country responded with anger and confusion Friday as they grappled with the Trump administration 's aggressive effort to shrink the size of the federal workforce by ordering agencies to lay off probationary employees who have yet to qualify for civil service protections.

While much of the administration’s attention was focused on disrupting bureaucracy in Washington, the broad-based effort to slash the government workforce was impacting a far wider swath of workers. As layoff notices were sent out agency by agency, federal employees from Michigan to Florida were left reeling from being told that their services were no longer needed.

In a sign of how chaotic the firings have been, some who received layoff notices had already accepted the administration's deferred resignation offer, under which they were supposed to be paid until Sept. 30 if they agreed to quit, raising questions about whether others who signed the deal would nonetheless be fired. On Friday evening, the Office of Personnel Management, which serves as a human resources department for the federal government, acknowledged that some employees may have received termination notices in error and said the buyouts agreements would be honored.

“This has been slash and burn,” said Nicholas Detter, who had been working in Kansas as a natural resource specialist, helping farmers reduce soil and water erosion, until he was fired by email late Thursday night. He said there seemed to be little thought about how employees and the farmers and ranchers he helped would be impacted.

“None of this has been done thoughtfully or carefully,” he said.

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AP reporter and photographer barred from Air Force One over 'Gulf of Mexico' terminology dispute

The White House barred a credentialed Associated Press reporter and photographer from boarding the presidential airplane Friday for a weekend trip with Donald Trump, saying the news agency’s stance on how to refer to the Gulf of Mexico was to blame for the exclusion. It represented a significant escalation by the White House in a four-day dispute with the AP over access to the presidency.

The administration has blocked the AP from covering a handful of events at the White House this week, including a news conference with India's leader and several times in the Oval Office. It’s all because the news outlet has not followed Trump’s lead in renaming the body of water, which lies partially outside U.S. territory, to the “Gulf of America.”

AP reporters and photographers travel with the president virtually everywhere as part of a press “pool” and have for decades. AP journalism serves millions of readers and thousands of news outlets around the world.

Journalists consider the administration's move a violation of the U.S. Constitution's First Amendment — a governmental attempt to dictate what a news company publishes under threat of retribution. The Trump administration says the AP has no special right of access to events where space is limited, particularly given the news service's “commitment to misinformation.”

AP calls that assertion entirely untrue.

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Helicopter crew in collision with plane may not have heard key instruction from tower, NTSB says

WASHINGTON (AP) — The crew of the Army helicopter that collided in midair with an American Airlines jet near Washington, D.C.’s Ronald Reagan National Airport may have had inaccurate altitude readings in the moments before the crash, and also may not have heard key instructions from air traffic controllers to move behind the plane, investigators said Friday.

National Transportation Safety Board Chairwoman Jennifer Homendy told reporters that the recording from the Black Hawk helicopter cockpit suggested an incomplete radio transmission may have left the crew without understanding how it should shift position just before the Jan. 29 crash, in which all 67 aboard the two aircraft were killed,

“That transmission was interrupted -– it was stepped on,” she said, leaving them unable to hear the words “pass behind the” because the helicopter's microphone key was pressed at the same moment.

The helicopter pilots may have also missed part of another communication, when the tower said the jet was turning toward a different runway, she said.

Homendy said the helicopter was on a “check" flight that night where the pilot was undergoing an annual test and a test on using night vision goggles. Investigators believe the crew was wearing night vision goggles throughout the flight.

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How a traffic stop in Vermont cracked open a cultlike group linked to deaths in multiple states

In the wooded outskirts of Chapel Hill, North Carolina, a perplexed landlord noticed odd sights at two of his rental properties.

Tenants wore long black coats and parked box trucks outside the duplexes. They ran an electrical cord from one box truck into one of the condos, and kept a stretcher inside another.

A neighbor remembers similarly dressed figures walking around at night holding hands. They never spoke a word.

By the time the FBI searched the property last week, one of the most recent tenants had been killed in a shootout with U.S. Border Patrol agents in Vermont, and a second was under arrest. A third, a shadowy figure known online as “Ziz,” remains missing after authorities linked their cultlike group to six deaths in three states.

Officials have offered few details of the cross-country investigation, which broke open after the Jan. 20 shooting death of a Border Patrol trooper in Vermont during a traffic stop. Associated Press interviews and a review of court records and online postings tell the story of how a group of young, highly intelligent computer scientists, most of them in their 20s and 30s, met online, shared anarchist beliefs, and became increasingly violent.

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Rwanda-backed rebels advance into eastern Congo's second major city of Bukavu, residents say

GOMA, Congo (AP) — Residents and business owners in eastern Congo's second largest city sat in wait on Saturday morning after a night of loud gunfire marking the ongoing advance of Rwanda-backed rebels.

Families remained indoors and shops remained closed as M23 fighters entered the outskirts of Bukavu — a city of about 1.3 million people that lies 63 miles (101 kilometers) south of Goma, the region's largest city taken by the rebels last month.

The group, backed by about 4,000 troops from neighboring Rwanda, is the most prominent of more than 100 armed groups vying for control of Congo’s mineral-rich east. Its southward expansion encompasses more territory than rebels had previously seized and poses an unprecedented challenge to the central government's authority.

The rebellion has killed at least 2,000 people in and around Goma and left hundreds of thousands of displaced stranded, the U.N. and Congolese authorities have said.

The rebels on Friday also claimed to have seized a second airport in the region, in the town of Kavumu outside Bukavu. The U.N. warned that the recent escalation of fighting with government forces has left 350,000 internally displaced people without shelter.

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Serbia's striking students and populist president to hold parallel rallies as tensions spike

KRAGUJEVAC, Serbia (AP) — Serbia’s striking students and supporters of populist President Aleksandar Vucic have planned parallel rallies on Saturday as both mark the country's Statehood Day with notably contrasting messages.

The student-led protest is the latest in a nationwide anti-graft movement that reflects mounting calls for fundamental political changes in the Balkan state, triggered after a concrete canopy on a railway station in the northern city of Novi Sad collapsed on Nov. 1, killing 15 people.

The rally, in the central industrial city of Kragujevac, is set to draw tens of thousands of people who, bedsides demanding justice over a fatal accident, have been asking to root out rampant endemic corruption and respect for the rule of law.

Students chose Kragujevac for Saturday's rally because of its history; In 1835, Serbia was still part of the Ottoman Empire. People in Kragujevac announced a new constitution that sought to limit the powers of the then-rulers. The date is now celebrated as the Statehood Day.

The students arrived at the city on Friday and were met with cheers and support by the residents. Ahead of Saturday's protest, they organized marches in various parts of the country, encouraging people to converge in Kragujevac. Some walked, others ran or cycled. Along their journey, people greeted them with food and refreshments and offered accommodation, many crying and expressing hope for change.

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Cher, Lady Gaga, Miley Cyrus, Snoop Dogg: 'Saturday Night Live' is feted with a concert for the ages

NEW YORK (AP) — By the time Cher sang “If I Could Turn Back Time,” it seemed as if time had indeed been turned back, and every single “Saturday Night Live” musical guest of 50 years had magically found their way to Radio City Music Hall.

Of course, it was only a smattering. But “SNL50: The Homecoming Concert” boasted an epic lineup. It was an evening of memorable solo performances and often fascinating, one-time-only collaborations: Bonnie Raitt and Chris Martin. Arcade Fire, David Byrne, St. Vincent and the Preservation Hall Jazz Band. Post Malone and Nirvana.

The concert, hosted by Jimmy Fallon, was only one element of what has become an enormous celebration of the show’s 50 years in existence, leading up to Sunday’s “SNL50: The Anniversary Special," live from Studio 8H.

But Friday night was all about music.

Some highlights:

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Kentucky bourbon bottles signed by the pope raise thousands for charity

LEXINGTON, Ky. (AP) — It sounds like the opening line of a joke: What happens when the pope gets his hands on two bottles of Kentucky bourbon? But it actually occurred and the punch line is heartwarming: the autographed bottles raised tens of thousands of dollars to help poor and sick people, as well as homeless cats and dogs.

The plan was concocted by the Rev. Jim Sichko, a Kentucky-based Roman Catholic priest. He saw an opportunity to turn a signature Kentucky product, and his access to Pope Francis as a papal missionary of mercy, into a way to help those in need by auctioning off bourbon bottles signed by the pope.

“I understand that at times people say, ‘What is this priest doing?’ I get it," Sichko said in a recent interview. "I think outside the box all the time.”

His unconventional idea raised about $30,000 when Sotheby’s auctioned off two bottles signed by the pope, plus another bourbon bottle autographed by former Super Bowl-winning quarterback Tom Brady.

The proceeds are being divided among organizations selected by Sichko. He presented the first check on Jan. 31 to Paws 4 the Cause, an animal rescue organization in Lexington, Kentucky. Other checks will help hospice care in his native Texas and a legal clinic in Lexington that assists immigrants, he said.

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