The Latest | Hamas says 'positive response' from mediators to its cease-fire amendments

Hamas says amendments it proposed to the most recent U.S. plan for a cease-fire in Gaza “have been met with a positive response by the mediators.” However, “the official Israeli position has not yet become clear,” and no date for negotiations has been set, Hamas spokesperson Jihad Taha said...

Hungary's Orbán meets Putin for talks in Moscow in a rare visit by a European leader

MOSCOW (AP) — Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orbán visited Moscow on Friday for a rare meeting by a European leader with Russian President Vladimir Putin and discussed peace proposals for Ukraine, which triggered condemnation from Kyiv and some European leaders and officials. ...

World Anti-Doping Agency 'disappointed' at US investigation into Chinese doping case

MONTREAL (AP) — The World Anti-Doping Agency says it is “disappointed” to learn of a U.S. criminal investigation into the case of 23 Chinese swimmers who were allowed to continue competing despite testing positive for a banned substance in 2021. The Associated Press reported...

Israel approves plans for nearly 5,300 new homes in West Bank settlements

JERUSALEM (AP) — The Israeli government has approved plans to build nearly 5,300 new homes in settlements in the occupied West Bank, a monitoring group said Thursday, the latest in a campaign to accelerate settlement expansion, aimed at cementing Israeli control over the territory and preventing...

Netanyahu will dispatch negotiators to resume Gaza cease-fire talks, an Israeli official says

Israel weighs Hamas' latest response to Gaza cease-fire proposal as diplomatic efforts are revived

TEL AVIV, Israel (AP) — Israel's Cabinet was set to convene Thursday to discuss Hamas' latest response to a U.S.-backed proposal for a phased cease-fire in Gaza, as diplomatic efforts aimed at ending the nine-month war stirred back to life after a weekslong hiatus. Fighting,...

Masoud Pezeshkian, a heart surgeon who rose to power in parliament, runs to be Iran's next president

DUBAI, United Arab Emirates (AP) — After the 2022 death of Mahsa Amini, Iranian lawmaker Masoud Pezeshkian wrote that it was “unacceptable in the Islamic Republic to arrest a girl for her hijab and then hand over her dead body to her family.” Days later as nationwide protests...

Haiti's prime minister says Kenyan police are crucial to controlling gangs, early days are positive

UNITED NATIONS (AP) — Haitian Prime Minister Garry Conille told the U.N. Security Council on Wednesday that recently deployed Kenyan police will be crucial to helping control the country’s gangs and moving toward democratic elections — and he called feedback from their initial days in the...

US ends legal fight against Titanic expedition. Battles over future dives are still possible

NORFOLK, Va. (AP) — The U.S. government has officially ended its legal fight against an upcoming expedition to the Titanic shipwreck after the company that owns the ship's salvage rights scaled back its dive plans. But the U.S. said in court filings last week that it may wage...

Israel turbocharges West Bank settlement expansion with largest land grab in decades

JERUSALEM (AP) — Israel has approved the largest seizure of land in the occupied West Bank in over three decades, a settlement tracking group said Wednesday, a move that is likely to worsen already soaring tensions linked to the war in Gaza. Israel's aggressive expansion in the...