14 hours ago Three Israelis and five Thais freed from Gaza as Trump envoy meets hostages’ relatives

Handover delayed by jostling crowd in Khan Younis, Gaza, with Netanyahu suspending release of Palestinian prisoners• Middle East crisis – live updatesThree Israelis and five Thai citizens held in Gaza have been freed, as Donald Trump’s Middle East envoy met hostages’ relatives, reportedly telling them he was optimistic the ceasefire would hold to allow the return of all the living and the dead.The handover on Thursday of seven hostages in Khan Younis, southern Gaza, was delayed by a chaotic crowd surging towards the group, despite an escort of heavily armed militants, jostling and blocking their passage to waiting Red Cross vehicles. Continue reading...

Politics

24 hours ago ‘No hope’: wife’s fears for Ugandan opposition leader facing trial for treason

Kizza Besigye, veteran opponent of President Yoweri Museveni, may face death penalty but will not get justice in military court, warns Winnie Byanyima, UNAids chiefIt was a message from her sister-in-law asking where he was that made Winnie Byanyima start worrying about her husband, Dr Kizza Besigye, a prominent Ugandan opposition leader. Byanyima, head of UNAids, had just returned from Malawi to Geneva, where the UN programme on HIV/Aids is based, in November. She rang Besigye’s phone – it was off.She made some calls and learned that he had gone from Uganda to neighbouring Kenya to attend a book launch. Then a journalist told her he believed Besigye was now being held in a military prison in Kampala, Uganda’s capital. Continue reading...

Politics

13 hours ago M23 rebels push south from Goma as DRC leader calls for military recruits

Rebels ‘here in Goma to stay’ and Rwandan official says advance will continue amid fears of regional warThe Rwanda-backed M23 rebel group has pushed south from Goma, the border city in eastern Democratic Republic of the Congo that it captured this week, and declared its intention to remain in the city, as fears grow of a major regional war.“We are here in Goma to stay,” Corneille Nangaa, the head of the Congo River Alliance, a coalition of militias that includes M23, said at a press conference in Goma. “We are going to continue the march until Kinshasa,” he added, referring to Congo’s capital 1,000 miles away. Continue reading...

Events

24 hours ago ‘No hope’: wife’s fears for Ugandan opposition leader facing trial for treachery

Kizza Besigye, veteran opponent of President Yoweri Museveni, may face death penalty but will not get justice in military court, warns Winnie Byanyima, UNAids chiefIt was a message from her sister-in-law asking where he was that made Winnie Byanyima start worrying about her husband, Dr Kizza Besigye, a prominent Ugandan opposition leader. Byanyima, head of UNAids, had just returned from Malawi to Geneva, where the UN programme on HIV/Aids is based, in November. She rang Besigye’s phone – it was off.She made some calls and learned that he had gone from Uganda to neighbouring Kenya to attend a book launch. Then a journalist told her he believed Besigye was now being held in a military prison in Kampala, Uganda’s capital. Continue reading...

Politics

14 hours ago 'Red Rum' double killer and his partner jailed for murdering woman and dismembering her body

Steven Sansom, 45, was on licence after being released from prison in 2019 for murdering a cab driver

Events

15 hours ago Who are the Palestinian prisoners released in exchange for Israeli hostages?

Israel released 110 Palestinian prisoners on Thursday, in exchange for three Israeli hostages held in captivity in Gaza

Events

16 hours ago Israel delays freeing of Palestinian prisoners after chaotic scenes during Gaza hostage release – live

Israel is due to free 110 Palestinian prisoners later todayAway from Gaza and Israel, Qatar’s Emir Sheikh Tamim bin Hamad Al-Thani arrived on Thursday in Damascus, Syria, Al Jazeera reported, the first visit by a foreign head of state since Bashar al-Assad’s fall.The Israeli military said on Thursday that freed Israeli female soldier Agam Berger had been handed over to the army by the Red Cross after her release in Gaza by Hamas. Continue reading...

Events

17 hours ago Hamas releases 8 prisoners but Israel postpones Palestinian exchange due to 'scenes of chaos'

Hamas has handed over a total of eight hostages today

Events

18 hours ago Chaotic Gaza hostage releases highlight growing tension as soldiers narrowly avoid crush

Tensions escalate in the latest hostage-prisoner swaps between Israel and Hamas - and as each historical release happens, fears of a breakdown in the ceasefire will build

Events

25 hours ago Middle East latest: Hostages and prisoners set to be released as ceasefire holds

Hamas is set to free three more Israeli hostages as well as five Thai captives, and Israel is to release another 110 Palestinian prisoners, in the third such exchange since a ceasefire in the Gaza Strip took hold earlier this month

Events

26 hours ago Hamas is set to free 8 more hostages and Israel will release 110 prisoners as Gaza ceasefire holds

Hamas is set to free three more Israeli hostages as well as five Thai captives, and Israel is to release another 110 Palestinian prisoners

Events