AP Top News at 8:02 p.m. EDT

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.

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.

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.

Pope Leo XIV calls for peace in Ukraine and Gaza in symbolically rich blessing on Mother’s Day

VATICAN CITY (AP) — Pope Leo XIV called for a genuine and just peace in Ukraine and an immediate ceasefire in Gaza, in his first Sunday noon blessing as pontiff that featured some symbolic gestures suggesting a message of unity in a polarized Catholic Church. “I, too, address the world’s great powers by repeating the ever-present call ‘never again war,’” Leo said from the loggia of St. Peter’s Basilica to an estimated 100,000 people below. It was the first time that Leo had returned to the loggia since he first appeared to the world on Thursday evening following his remarkable election as pope, the first from the United States.

From the left and right, US Catholics hope new pope fulfills their hopes

NEW YORK (AP) — News that the global Catholic church would get its first-ever U.S.-born pope was welcomed by Catholics across the ideological spectrum in Pope Leo XIV ’s homeland, raising the question of whether he might be able to ease some of the deep divisions within its ranks. From U.S. Catholics to the left of the ideological center, there is optimism that Leo will carry on Pope Francis’ outreach to poor and marginalized people, including migrants, and provide a counterweight to policies of the Trump administration that distress them. To the right, there is hope the new pope will faithfully uphold Catholic doctrine, including opposition to abortion, same-sex marriage and women’s ordination.

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.

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.

A Republican push to sell public lands in the West is reigniting a political fight

BILLINGS, Mont. (AP) — Congressional Republicans say their plan to sell potentially hundreds of thousands of acres of federal land will generate revenue and ease growth pressures in booming Western cities. Yet without clear details on how it will work, skeptics worry it could be a giveaway for developers and mining companies and do little to ease the region’s housing crisis. Legislation passed by the House Natural Resources Committee last week includes about 460,000 acres (186,155 hectares) in Nevada and Utah to be sold or transferred to local governments or private entities. The provision is part of a sweeping tax cut package and mirrors the Trump administration’s view of most public lands as an asset to be used, not set aside for preservation.

‘Beacon of freedom’ dims as US initiatives that promote democracy abroad wither under Trump

CHICAGO (AP) — Growing up in the former Soviet Union, Pedro Spivakovsky-Gonzalez’s father and grandparents would listen to Voice of America with their ears pressed to the radio, trying to catch words through the government’s radio jamming. The U.S.-funded news service was instrumental in helping them understand what was happening on the other side of the Iron Curtain, before they moved to the United States in the 1970s. “It was a window into another world,” Spivakovsky-Gonzalez said. “They looked to it as a sort of a beacon of freedom. They were able to imagine a different world from the one they were living in.” When Spivakovsky-Gonzalez and his family heard of President Donald Trump’s attempts to dismantle the U.S.

Qatar says no final decision made on gifting Trump a jet to use as Air Force One

WASHINGTON (AP) — President Donald Trump reportedly 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 acknowledged discussions between the two countries about “the possible transfer” of a plane to be used temporarily as Trump’s Air Force One, but denied that the jet “is being gifted” or that a final decision had been made. 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.