NAWA, Syria (AP) — As insurgents raced across Syria in a surprise offensive launched in the country's northwest late last year, officials from several countries backing either the rebels or Syria’s government met in Qatar on what to do.

JAKARTA, Indonesia (AP) — Indonesian rescuers retrieved two more bodies after they resumed their search Wednesday for people missing after floods and landslides on Indonesia’s main island of Java, bringing the death toll to 19.

ANKARA, Turkey (AP) — A fire at a 12-story hotel at a popular ski resort in northwestern Turkey on Tuesday killed at least 66 people, Turkey's Interior Minister said.

ISLAMABAD (AP) — A prisoner swap between the United States and Afghanistan's Taliban freed two Americans in exchange for a Taliban figure imprisoned for life in California on drug trafficking and terrorism charges, officials said Tuesday.

JERUSALEM (AP) — Israel's top general resigned on Tuesday, citing the security and intelligence failures related to Hamas' surprise attack that triggered the war in the Gaza Strip. Israel meanwhile launched a large operation in the occupied West Bank, killing at least six people, according to Palestinian officials.

RAMALLAH, West Bank (AP) — After 15 months of collective grief and anxiety, three Israeli hostages left terrorist captivity and returned to Israel, and dozens of Palestinian prisoners walked free from Israeli jail, leaving both Israelis and Palestinians torn between celebration and trepidation as the ceasefire between Israel and Hamas took hold Sunday.

CAIRO (AP) — The ceasefire between Hamas and Israel will go into effect Sunday at 8:30 a.m. local time, mediator Qatar announced Saturday, as families of hostages held in Gaza braced for news of loved ones, Palestinians prepared to receive freed detainees and humanitarian groups rushed to set up a surge of aid.

TEL AVIV, Israel (AP) — Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said Friday a deal to return hostages held in the Gaza Strip has been reached, after his office said earlier there were last-minute snags in finalizing a ceasefire that would pause 15 months of war.

TEL AVIV, Israel (AP) — Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said Thursday that a last-minute dispute with Hamas, designated a terror organization by the U.S., was holding up Israeli approval of a long-awaited ceasefire that would pause the fighting in the Gaza Strip and release dozens of hostages. 

STILFONTEIN, South Africa (AP) — The death toll in a monthslong standoff between police and miners trapped while working illegally in an abandoned gold mine in South Africa has risen to at least 87, police said Thursday.

DOHA, Qatar (AP) — Israel and Hamas have agreed to pause the devastating war in the Gaza Strip, mediators announced Wednesday, raising the possibility of winding down the deadliest and most destructive fighting between the bitter enemies.

SEOUL, South Korea (AP) — South Korea's impeached president, Yoon Suk Yeol, was sent to a detention center near Seoul on Wednesday night, after being questioned by anti-corruption officials who took him into custody over his imposition of martial law last month.

WARSAW, Poland (AP) — Polish Prime Minister Donald Tusk accused Russia on Wednesday of planning acts of sabotage worldwide that included “acts of air terror” against airlines.

SEOUL, South Korea (AP) — Hundreds of law enforcement officers entered the residential compound of South Korea's impeached President Yoon Suk Yeol early Wednesday in their second attempt to detain him over his imposition of martial law last month.

KYIV, Ukraine (AP) — The players were chosen from among the thousands of Ukrainians wounded in the war. With limbs lost to Russian attacks, they gathered at a stadium in Kyiv over the weekend, ready to embark on a new contest: a soccer tournament.

CAIRO (AP) — U.S. and Arab mediators made significant progress overnight toward brokering a ceasefire in the Israel-Hamas war and the release of scores of hostages held in the Gaza Strip, but a deal hasn't been reached yet, officials said Monday.

TOKYO (AP) — Japan issued a tsunami advisory on Monday after a magnitude 6.7 earthquake struck the southwest of the country. The public warnings to stay away from coastal areas were later lifted.

KYIV, Ukraine (AP) — A daytime Russian missile attack on the southern Ukraine city of Zaporizhzhia killed at least 13 civilians and injured about 30 others Wednesday, officials said.

JERUSALEM (AP) — Israeli soldiers recovered the body of a 53-year-old hostage in an underground tunnel in southern Gaza, the military said Wednesday, and the army was determining if another set of remains belongs to the man's son.

BEIJING (AP) — Relief teams in western China shifted their focus to resettling survivors after a search Wednesday for any remaining victims of a deadly earthquake that struck a day earlier near a holy city for Tibetan Buddhists.

SEOUL, South Korea (AP) — North Korea said Tuesday its latest weapons test was a new hypersonic intermediate-range missile designed to strike remote targets in the Pacific as leader Kim Jong Un vowed to further expand his collection of nuclear-capable weapons to counter rival nations.

TORONTO (AP) — Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau announced his resignation Monday in the face of rising discontent over his leadership, and after the abrupt departure of his finance minister signaled growing turmoil within his government.

TEL AVIV, Israel (AP) — Gunmen opened fire on a bus carrying Israelis in the West Bank on Monday, killing at least three people and wounding seven others. Violence has surged in the territory since Hamas’ Oct. 7, 2023, terror attack out of Gaza ignited the ongoing war there.

VIENNA (AP) — The leader of Austria's Freedom Party received a mandate Monday to try to form a new government, which would be the first headed by the far right since World War II if he succeeds.

BEIRUT (AP) — Hezbollah leader Hassan Nasrallah was killed in an Israeli airstrike last year while inside the militant group's war operations room, according to new details Sunday disclosed by a senior Hezbollah official.