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Two of the last functioning hospitals in northern Gaza are encircled by Israeli forces, staff say

Two of northern Gaza’s last functioning hospitals have been encircled by Israeli troops, preventing anyone from leaving or entering the facilities, hospital staff and aid groups said this week, as Israel pursued its renewed offensive into the devastated Palestinian territory. The Indonesian hospital and al-Awda hospital are among the region’s only surviving medical centers. Israeli authorities issued evacuation orders Friday for large parts of northern Gaza ahead of attacks intended to pressure the Hamas militant group to release more hostages. New evacuation orders followed Tuesday. Both hospitals as well as another and three primary health care centers are within the evacuation zone, though Israel has not ordered the evacuation of the facilities themselves.

Putin visited Russia’s Kursk region for first time since Moscow said it drove out Ukrainian forces

President Vladimir Putin visited Russia’s Kursk region for the first time since Moscow claimed that it drove Ukrainian forces out of the area last month, the Kremlin said Wednesday. Putin visited the region bordering Ukraine the previous day, according to the Kremlin. Ukrainian forces made a surprise incursion into Kursk in August 2024 in one of their biggest battlefield successes in the more than three-year war. The incursion was the first time Russian territory was occupied by an invader since World War II and dealt a humiliating blow to the Kremlin. Since the end of 2023, Russia has mostly had the advantage on the battlefield, with the exception of Kursk.

Germany says it broke up a far-right group that planned attacks. 5 teens have been arrested

BERLIN (AP) — German police on Wednesday arrested five teenagers accused of involvement with a right-wing extremist group calling itself “Last Defense Wave” that allegedly aimed to destabilize the country’s democratic system by carrying out attacks on migrants and political opponents. The early-morning arrests in various parts of Germany were accompanied by searches at 13 properties, federal prosecutors said in a statement. Four of those arrested — identified only as Benjamin H., Ben-Maxim H., Lenny M. and Jason R., in line with German privacy rules — are suspected of membership in a domestic terror organization. The fifth, Jerome M., is accused of supporting the group.

US must keep control of migrants sent to South Sudan in case removals were unlawful, judge rules

WASHINGTON (AP) — A federal judge ruled late Tuesday that U.S. officials must retain custody and control of migrants apparently removed to South Sudan in case he orders their removals were unlawful. U.S. District Judge Brian E. Murphy in Massachusetts issued the ruling after an emergency hearing, after attorneys for immigrants said the Trump administration appears to have begun deporting people from Myanmar and Vietnam to South Sudan — despite a court order restricting removals to other countries. Murphy said the government must “maintain custody and control of class members currently being removed to South Sudan or to any other third country, to ensure the practical feasibility of return if the Court finds that such removals were unlawful.” While Murphy left the details to the government’s discretion, he said he expects the migrants “will be treated humanely.” Attorneys for the migrants told the judge that immigration authorities may have sent up to a dozen people from several countries to Africa, which they argue violates a court order saying people must get a “meaningful opportunity” to argue that sending them to a country outside their homeland would threaten their safety.

Rubio defends Trump’s foreign policy as Democrats press him on Gaza aid and white South Africans

WASHINGTON (AP) — Secretary of State Marco Rubio and Democratic senators sparred Tuesday over the Trump administration’s foreign policies, ranging from Ukraine and Russia to the Middle East, Latin America, the slashing of the U.S. foreign assistance budget and refugee admissions. Rubio defended the administration’s decisions to his former colleagues during a Senate Foreign Relations Committee hearing, his first since being confirmed on President Donald Trump’s Inauguration Day. He said “America is back” and claimed four months of foreign-policy achievements, even as many of them remain frustratingly inconclusive. Among them are the resumption of nuclear talks with Iran, efforts to bring Russia and Ukraine into peace talks and efforts to end the war in Gaza between Israel and Hamas.

In Gaza, 45 killed in strikes as desperately needed aid fails to reach Palestinians

Deir al-Balah, Gaza (AP) — Hospitals in Gaza say Israeli strikes overnight and into Wednesday killed at least 45 people, including several women and a week-old infant. The fresh strikes come as Israel’s war on Hamas shows no signs of relenting, despite a surge in international anger at Israel’s widening offensive. Israel began allowing dozens of humanitarian trucks into Gaza on Tuesday, but the aid has not yet reached Palestinians in desperate need, according to aid groups. U.N. spokesperson Stéphane Dujarric said Tuesday evening that although the aid has entered Gaza, aid workers were not able to bring it to distribution points where it is most needed, after the Israeli military forced them to reload the supplies onto separate trucks and workers ran out of time.

A suicide car bomber strikes a school bus in southwestern Pakistan, killing 5 people

QUETTA, Pakistan (AP) — A suicide car bomber struck a school bus in southwestern Pakistan on Wednesday, killing five people — including at least three children — and wounding 38 others, officials said, the latest attack in tense Balochistan province. The province has been the scene of a long-running insurgency, with an array of separatist groups staging attacks, including the outlawed Balochistan Liberation Army, or BLA, designated a terror group by the United States in 2019. A local deputy commissioner, Yasir Iqbal, said the attack took place on the outskirts of the city of Khuzdar as the bus was taking children to their military-run school there.

Arrested New Orleans jail worker says he helped inmates escape after stabbing threat

NEW ORLEANS (AP) — A New Orleans jail maintenance worker has been arrested and is being held on a $1.1 million bond after admitting he turned water off to a toilet covering a hole in a cell wall, allowing 10 men to squeeze through the gap in one of the largest jailbreaks in recent U.S. history. The inmates pulled off the daring escape early Friday by yanking open a faulty cell door, moving the toilet and slithering through the hole. Graffiti on the wall included the message “To Easy LoL,” with an arrow pointing to the gap. On Tuesday evening state police confirmed that Corey Boyd, 19, became the fifth of the escapees to be apprehended.

Trump selects concept for $175 billion ‘Golden Dome’ missile defense system

WASHINGTON (AP) — President Donald Trump has announced the concept he wants for his future Golden Dome missile defense program — a multilayered, $175 billion system that for the first time will put U.S. weapons in space. Speaking Tuesday from the Oval Office, Trump said he expects the system will be “fully operational before the end of my term,” which ends in 2029, and have the capability of intercepting missiles “even if they are launched from space.” It’s likelier that the complex system may have some initial capability by that point, a U.S. official familiar with the program said. Trump, seated next to a poster showing the continental U.S.

Trump’s ‘Golden Dome’ missile defense plan was inspired by Israel’s multitiered defenses

JERUSALEM (AP) — U.S. President Donald Trump’s plan for a “Golden Dome” to protect the United States from long-range missiles was at least partly inspired by Israel’s multitiered missile defenses. Trump announced the $175 billion concept in the Oval Office on Tuesday, saying it would put U.S. weapons in space for the first time and be would be “fully operational” by the end of his term in early 2029, though a U.S. official familiar with the program said it could take longer. Israel’s multilayered defenses, often collectively referred to as the “Iron Dome,” have played a key role in defending it from rocket and missile fire from Iran and allied militant groups in the conflict unleashed by Hamas’ Oct.