Trump wants Jordan and Egypt to accept more refugees and floats plan to 'just clean out' Gaza

ABOARD AIR FORCE ONE (AP) — President Donald Trump said Saturday he’d like to see Jordan, Egypt and other Arab nations increase the number of Palestinian refugees they are accepting from the Gaza Strip — potentially moving out enough of the population to “just clean out” the war-torn area to create a virtual clean slate.

During a 20-minute question-and-answer session with reporters aboard Air Force One on Saturday, Trump also said he's ended his predecessor’s hold on sending 2,000-pound bombs to Israel. That lifts a pressure point that had been meant to reduce civilian casualties during Israel's war with Hamas in Gaza that is now halted by a tenuous ceasefire.

“We released them today," Trump said of the bombs. “They’ve been waiting for them for a long time." Asked why he lifted the ban on those bombs, Trump responded, “Because they bought them.”

Trump has built his political career around being unapologetically pro-Israel. On his larger vision for Gaza, Trump said he had call earlier in the day with King Abdullah II of Jordan and would speak Sunday with President Abdel Fattah el-Sissi of Egypt.

“I’d like Egypt to take people,” Trump said. “You’re talking about probably a million and a half people, and we just clean out that whole thing and say, ‘You know, it’s over.’”

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Hamas frees 4 female Israeli soldiers in exchange for 200 Palestinian prisoners as ceasefire holds

TEL AVIV, Israel (AP) — Four female Israeli soldiers who were taken in the attack that sparked the war in Gaza returned to Israel on Saturday after Hamas militants paraded them before a crowd of thousands in Gaza City and handed them over to the Red Cross. Israel later released 200 Palestinian prisoners in the second exchange of a fragile ceasefire.

The four Israelis smiled, waved and gave the thumbs-up from a stage in Palestine Square, with armed, masked militants on either side as Hamas sought to show it remained in control in Gaza after 15 months of war. The hostages likely acted under duress. Previously released ones said they were held in brutal conditions and forced to record propaganda videos.

Israel's Prison Service said it released 200 Palestinians, including 121 people serving life sentences after being convicted of deadly attacks against Israelis, while others were held without charge.

Thousands of Palestinians in the Israeli-occupied West Bank city of Ramallah celebrated their arrival. Wan-looking and wearing gray prison sweatsuits, some donned Hamas headbands given to them by the crowd and rode on supporters' shoulders.

In the deal's first major crisis, Israel said it would not allow displaced Palestinians to return to northern Gaza by Sunday as anticipated, because civilian hostage Arbel Yehoud was not released as expected.

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Devastating toll for Gaza's children: Over 13,000 killed and an estimated 25,000 injured, UN says

UNITED NATIONS (AP) — The war in Gaza has been devastating for children: More than 13,000 have been killed, an estimated 25,000 injured, and at least 25,000 hospitalized for malnutrition, according to U.N. agencies.

As Britain’s deputy U.N. ambassador, James Kariuki, recently told the Security Council, “Gaza has become the deadliest place in the world to be a child.”

“The children of Gaza did not choose this war,” he said, “yet they have paid the ultimate price.”

The U.N. Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs reported Thursday that of the 40,717 Palestinian bodies identified so far in Gaza, one-third – 13,319 – were children. The office said Friday the figures came from Gaza’s Ministry of Health.

The U.N. children’s agency, UNICEF, said the estimate of 25,000 children injured came from its analysis based on information collected together with Gaza’s Health Ministry.

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He's emboldened, he's organized and he's still Trump: Takeaways from the president's opening days

WASHINGTON (AP) — President Donald Trump’s first week in office isn't over yet, but already it offers signals about how his next four years in the White House may unfold.

Some takeaways from the earliest days of his second term:

Within hours of being sworn in, Trump pardoned more than 1,500 people who were convicted or charged in the Jan. 6, 2021, attack on the Capitol by his supporters. Those pardoned include people who attacked, bloodied and beat police officers that day. The Republican president's decision was at odds with earlier comments by his incoming vice president, JD Vance, and other senior aides that Trump would only let off those who weren't violent.

The pardons were the first of many moves he made in his first week to reward allies and punish critics, in both significant and subtle ways. It signaled that without the need to worry about reelection — the Constitution bars a third term — or legal consequences after the Supreme Court granted presidents expansive immunity, the new president, backed by a Republican Congress, has little to restrain him.

Trump ended protective security details for Dr. Anthony Fauci, his former COVID-19 adviser, along with former national security adviser John Bolton, former Secretary of State Mike Pompeo and his onetime deputy. The security protections had been regularly extended by the Biden administration over credible threats to the men's lives.

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Loyalty tests and MAGA checks: Inside the Trump White House's intense screening of job-seekers

WASHINGTON (AP) — Job-seekers hoping to join the new Trump administration are facing a series of intense loyalty tests, with White House screening teams fanning out to government agencies to check for “Make America Great Again” bona fides and carefully parsing applicants' politics and social media posts.

President Donald Trump has long said he believes the biggest mistake he made during his first term was hiring what he considered to be the wrong kinds of people. Now, aides are working aggressively to ensure the government is filled only with loyalists.

Negative social media posts have been enough to derail applications. Those seeking jobs have been told they will have to prove their “enthusiasm” to enact Trump's agenda and have been asked when their moment of “MAGA revelation” occurred. One federal employee said they briefly considered buying Trump’s crypto meme coin in case the president’s team asked about their voting record.

The intense screening has led some federal workers to question whether Trump’s team cares more about loyalty than competence. There is concern that his team is ousting foreign policy and national security diplomats and others who could offer the administration expertise and institutional knowledge at a time of conflict worldwide.

Trump officials have made no secret of their intention to fill the administration with hires sharing the president’s vision. They began checking potential staffers shortly after Trump launched his campaign and have continued since he won.

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More DEI fallout: Air Force scraps course that used videos of Tuskegee Airmen and female WWII pilots

WASHINGTON (AP) — The Air Force has removed training courses with videos of its storied Tuskegee Airmen and the Women Airforce Service Pilots, or WASPs — the female World War II pilots who were vital in ferrying warplanes for the military — to comply with the Trump administration's crackdown on diversity, equity and inclusion initiatives.

The videos were shown to Air Force troops as part of DEI courses they took during basic military training.

In a statement, the Air Force confirmed the courses with those videos had been removed and said it “will fully execute and implement all directives outlined in the Executive Orders issued by the President, ensuring that they are carried out with utmost professionalism, efficiency and in alignment with national security objectives.”

The problem may not be with the historical videos themselves, but that they were used in Air Force basic military training DEI coursework. However, the lack of clearer guidance has sent the Air Force and other agencies scrambling to take the broadest approach to what content is removed to make sure they are in compliance.

The Tuskegee Airmen, known as the “Red Tails” were the nation's first Black military pilots who served in a segregated WWII unit and their all-Black 332nd Fighter Group had one of the lowest loss records of all the bomber escorts in the war.

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Rain in Southern California will aid firefighters but create a risk of toxic ash runoff

LOS ANGELES (AP) — Rain began falling in parched Southern California on Saturday in a boon for firefighters who were mopping up multiple wildfires. But heavy downpours on charred hillsides could bring the threat of new troubles like toxic ash runoff.

Los Angeles County crews spent much of the week removing vegetation, shoring up slopes and reinforcing roads in devastated areas of the Palisades and Eaton fires, which reduced entire neighborhoods to rubble and ash after breaking out during powerful winds Jan. 7.

Most of the region was expected to get get around an inch (about 2.5 centimeters) of precipitation over several days, but “the threat is high enough to prepare for the worst-case scenario” of localized cloudbursts causing mud and debris to flow down hills, the National Weather Service said on social media.

“So the problem would be if one of those showers happens to park itself over a burn area,” weather service meteorologist Carol Smith said. “That could be enough to create debris flows.”

The rain started along the Central Coast before moving into Ventura and LA counties in the evening. It was forecast to increase throughout the weekend and possibly last into early Tuesday, Smith said. Flood watches were issued for some burn areas, and snow was likely in the mountains.

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International peacekeepers killed as fighting rages around eastern Congo's key city

GOMA, Congo (AP) — Fighting with M23 rebels in eastern Congo has left at least 13 peacekeepers and foreign soldiers dead, United Nations and army officials said Saturday.

M23 has made significant territorial gains in recent weeks, encircling the eastern city of Goma, which has around 2 million people and is a regional hub for security and humanitarian efforts.

The U.N. Security Council moved up an emergency meeting on the escalating violence to Sunday morning (10 am EST). Congo requested the meeting, which had originally been scheduled for Monday.

On Saturday, Congo’s army said it fended off an M23 offensive towards Goma with the help of its allied forces, including U.N. troops and soldiers from the Southern African Development Community Mission, also known as SAMIDRC.

“The Rwandan-backed M23 is clearly exploiting the presidential transition in the U.S. to advance on Goma — putting thousands more civilians at risk,” Kate Hixon, advocacy director for Africa at Amnesty International US, told the Associated Press.

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The only person in the world with a functioning pig organ is thriving after a record 2 months

An Alabama woman passed a major milestone Saturday to become the longest living recipient of a pig organ transplant – healthy and full of energy with her new kidney for 61 days and counting.

“I’m superwoman,” Towana Looney told The Associated Press, laughing about outpacing family members on long walks around New York City as she continues her recovery. “It’s a new take on life.”

Looney’s vibrant recovery is a morale boost in the quest to make animal-to-human transplants a reality. Only four other Americans have received hugely experimental transplants of gene-edited pig organs – two hearts and two kidneys – and none lived more than two months.

“If you saw her on the street, you would have no idea that she’s the only person in the world walking around with a pig organ inside them that’s functioning,” said Dr. Robert Montgomery of NYU Langone Health, who led Looney’s transplant.

Montgomery called Looney’s kidney function “absolutely normal." Doctors hope she can leave New York – where she’s temporarily living for post-transplant checkups – for her Gadsden, Alabama, home in about another month.

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North Korea says it tested cruise missile system and vows 'toughest' response to US

SEOUL, South Korea (AP) — North Korea said Sunday it tested a cruise missile system, its third known weapons display this year, and vowed “the toughest” response to what it called the escalation of U.S.-South Korean military drills that target the North.

The moves suggested North Korea will likely maintain its run of weapons tests and its confrontational stance against the U.S. for now, even though President Donald Trump said he intends to reach out to North Korean leader Kim Jong Un.

The official Korean Central News Agency said Kim observed the test of sea-to-surface strategic cruise guided weapons on Saturday.

The term “strategic” implies the missiles are nuclear-capable. KCNA said the missiles hit their targets after traveling 1,500-kilometer (932-mile) -long elliptical and figure-eight-shaped flight patterns, but that couldn't be independently verified.

KCNA cited Kim as saying that North Korea’s war deterrence capabilities “are being perfected more thoroughly” and affirming that his country will make “strenuous efforts” to defend stability “on the basis of more powerfully developed military muscle.”

News from © The Associated Press, 2025