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Israel PM Says Images of Freed Gaza Hostages 'Shocking'

Ohad Ben Ami, a hostage held in Gaza since the deadly October 7, 2023 attack, is released by Hamas as part of a ceasefire and a hostages-prisoners swap deal between Hamas and Israel in Deir al-Balah in the central Gaza Strip, February 8, 2025. (Reuters)
Ohad Ben Ami, a hostage held in Gaza since the deadly October 7, 2023 attack, is released by Hamas as part of a ceasefire and a hostages-prisoners swap deal between Hamas and Israel in Deir al-Balah in the central Gaza Strip, February 8, 2025. (Reuters)
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Israel PM Says Images of Freed Gaza Hostages 'Shocking'

Ohad Ben Ami, a hostage held in Gaza since the deadly October 7, 2023 attack, is released by Hamas as part of a ceasefire and a hostages-prisoners swap deal between Hamas and Israel in Deir al-Balah in the central Gaza Strip, February 8, 2025. (Reuters)
Ohad Ben Ami, a hostage held in Gaza since the deadly October 7, 2023 attack, is released by Hamas as part of a ceasefire and a hostages-prisoners swap deal between Hamas and Israel in Deir al-Balah in the central Gaza Strip, February 8, 2025. (Reuters)

The office of Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said on Saturday that the images of three freed hostages in Gaza were "shocking".

"The shocking images that we have seen today will not go unaddressed," the office said in a statement after Hamas fighters brought the three pale-looking hostages onto a stage before handing them over to the Red Cross.

They were made to speak during a carefully orchestrated release ceremony surrounded by gunmen.

According to Hamas and Israel, the hostages are Eli Sharabi, 52; Ohad Ben Ami, 56; and Or Levy, 34. All were abducted during the Hamas-led attack on Israel on Oct. 7, 2023, that sparked the war after some 1,200 people were killed.

A ceasefire paused the 15-month war in the Gaza Strip where Israel's retaliatory attack has killed more than 47,000 people, over half of them women and children, according to Gaza’s Health Ministry.

Israel’s ceremonial president, Isaac Herzog, said the hostages spent "491 days of hell, starved, emaciated and pained" and were "being exploited in a cynical and cruel spectacle."

Israeli opposition leader Yair Lapid said the "difficult scenes" were reason to extend the truce with Hamas and bring home the dozens of remaining hostages.

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Russia’s Lavrov Sees No ‘Bright Future’ for Economic Ties with US

06 February 2026, Russia, Moscow: Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov gives a press conference following a meeting with Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe (OSCE) Chairperson-in-Office Ignazio Cassis, head of Switzerland's Federal Department of Foreign Affairs, Federal Councilor of the Swiss Confederation, and OSCE Secretary General Feridun Sinirlioglu at the Russian Foreign Ministry's Reception House. (Sofya Sandurskaya/TASS via ZUMA Press/dpa)
06 February 2026, Russia, Moscow: Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov gives a press conference following a meeting with Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe (OSCE) Chairperson-in-Office Ignazio Cassis, head of Switzerland's Federal Department of Foreign Affairs, Federal Councilor of the Swiss Confederation, and OSCE Secretary General Feridun Sinirlioglu at the Russian Foreign Ministry's Reception House. (Sofya Sandurskaya/TASS via ZUMA Press/dpa)
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Russia’s Lavrov Sees No ‘Bright Future’ for Economic Ties with US

06 February 2026, Russia, Moscow: Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov gives a press conference following a meeting with Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe (OSCE) Chairperson-in-Office Ignazio Cassis, head of Switzerland's Federal Department of Foreign Affairs, Federal Councilor of the Swiss Confederation, and OSCE Secretary General Feridun Sinirlioglu at the Russian Foreign Ministry's Reception House. (Sofya Sandurskaya/TASS via ZUMA Press/dpa)
06 February 2026, Russia, Moscow: Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov gives a press conference following a meeting with Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe (OSCE) Chairperson-in-Office Ignazio Cassis, head of Switzerland's Federal Department of Foreign Affairs, Federal Councilor of the Swiss Confederation, and OSCE Secretary General Feridun Sinirlioglu at the Russian Foreign Ministry's Reception House. (Sofya Sandurskaya/TASS via ZUMA Press/dpa)

Russia remains open for cooperation with the United States but is not hopeful about economic ties despite Washington's ongoing efforts to end the Ukraine war, Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov said in an interview published on Monday.

Speaking to Russia-based media outlet TV BRICS, ‌Lavrov cited what ‌he called the ‌United ⁠States' declared ‌aim of "economic dominance".

"We also don't see any bright future in the economic sphere," Lavrov said.

Russian officials, including envoy Kirill Dmitriev, have previously spoken of the prospects for a major restoration ⁠of economic relations with the United States as ‌part of any eventual Ukraine ‍peace settlement.

But although ‍President Donald Trump has also ‍spoken of reviving economic cooperation with Moscow and has hosted his Russian counterpart Vladimir Putin on US soil since returning to the White House, he has imposed further onerous sanctions on Russia's vital ⁠energy sector.

Lavrov also cited Trump's hostility to the BRICS bloc, which includes Russia, China, India, Brazil and other major developing economies.

"The Americans themselves create artificial obstacles along this path (towards BRICS integration)," he said.

"We are simply forced to seek additional, protected ways to develop our financial, economic, logistical and ‌other projects with the BRICS countries."

World

Prince William, Kate 'Deeply Concerned' by Latest Epstein Revelations

Britain's Prince William (R), Prince of Wales and Catherine (C), Princess of Wales arrive to meet with the Archbishop of Canterbury Sarah Mullally at Lambeth Palace in London on February 5, 2026. (Photo by Aaron Chown / POOL / AFP)
Britain's Prince William (R), Prince of Wales and Catherine (C), Princess of Wales arrive to meet with the Archbishop of Canterbury Sarah Mullally at Lambeth Palace in London on February 5, 2026. (Photo by Aaron Chown / POOL / AFP)
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Prince William, Kate 'Deeply Concerned' by Latest Epstein Revelations

Britain's Prince William (R), Prince of Wales and Catherine (C), Princess of Wales arrive to meet with the Archbishop of Canterbury Sarah Mullally at Lambeth Palace in London on February 5, 2026. (Photo by Aaron Chown / POOL / AFP)
Britain's Prince William (R), Prince of Wales and Catherine (C), Princess of Wales arrive to meet with the Archbishop of Canterbury Sarah Mullally at Lambeth Palace in London on February 5, 2026. (Photo by Aaron Chown / POOL / AFP)

Britain's Prince William and his wife Catherine have been "deeply concerned" by the latest revelations linking William's uncle Prince Andrew to late US sex offender Jeffrey Epstein, Kensington Palace said Monday.

"I can confirm that the Prince and Princess of Wales have been deeply concerned by the continued revelations," the palace said in a statement.

The statement -- first public comments from the heir to the throne and his wife on the scandal since the latest release of Epstein files more than a week ago -- added that "their thoughts remain focused on the victims" of Epstein, who died in prison awaiting trial on sex trafficking charges in 2019.

King Charles III’s 65-year-old brother is now known simply as Andrew Mountbatten-Windsor.

The king last week forced Mountbatten-Windsor to leave his longtime home at Royal Lodge near Windsor Castle, accelerating a move that was first announced in October but wasn’t expected to be completed until later this year.

Mountbatten-Windsor is now living on the king’s Sandringham estate in eastern England. He will live temporarily at Wood Farm Cottage while his permanent home on the estate undergoes repairs.

World

Russian Strikes Kill 4 in Ukraine, Including Child

A general view on a damaged building at the site of a Russian drone strike on a residential building in Odesa, Ukraine, 04 February 2026. (EPA)
A general view on a damaged building at the site of a Russian drone strike on a residential building in Odesa, Ukraine, 04 February 2026. (EPA)
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Russian Strikes Kill 4 in Ukraine, Including Child

A general view on a damaged building at the site of a Russian drone strike on a residential building in Odesa, Ukraine, 04 February 2026. (EPA)
A general view on a damaged building at the site of a Russian drone strike on a residential building in Odesa, Ukraine, 04 February 2026. (EPA)

A barrage of Russian drones and missiles on Ukraine overnight killed at least four people in cities across the country, including a 10-year-old boy, regional officials said Monday.

AFP journalists at the scene of one strike on the southern city of Odesa saw gutted buildings and fire and emergency services working by lamplight to perform CPR on one of the victims.

The Ukrainian air force said Russia had launched 11 ballistic missiles and 149 drones -- including Iranian-designed Shaheds -- at the country from Sunday evening into the early hours of Monday.

Air defense units downed more than one hundred drones and several of the missiles, they added without elaborating.

Russia, which invaded Ukraine nearly four years ago, has bombarded its neighbor while joining recent rounds of US-brokered talks to end Europe's deadliest conflict since World War II.

Mykhailo, a 32-year-old resident of the port city of Odesa who lives on the fourth floor of a residential building damaged overnight, told AFP that his apartment windows had been blown out and his car was damaged.

"First we heard the buzzing of a Shahed, and then the hit -- and then another hit," the postal worker said.

A seventeen-year-old student, also named Mykhailo, told AFP when he stepped out onto his balcony he saw the doorframe had been dislodged by the blast.

Local officials in the city said that a 35-year-old man was killed and that two more were wounded, including a 19-year-old woman.

Farther north in the Kharkiv region, state emergency services said they had recovered the bodies of a woman and a 10-year-old boy after a drone attack.

And a 71-year-old man was killed by Russian drones in his bed in the settlement of Novgorod-Siversky in the northern Chernigiv region, local authorities said.

Though Washington wants to see the war end by mid-year, Kyiv and Moscow remain at odds over territorial divisions, with Russia pushing for full control of Ukraine's eastern Donetsk region as part of any deal.

Russia occupies around 20 percent of Ukraine's land.