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Families of Israeli Hostages Urge Nobel Committee to Award Peace Prize to Trump

Demonstrators rally ahead of the two-year anniversary of the deadly October 7, 2023 attack on Israel by Hamas, and to demand the immediate release of all hostages and the end of war in Gaza, in Tel Aviv, Israel, October 4, 2025. (Reuters)
Demonstrators rally ahead of the two-year anniversary of the deadly October 7, 2023 attack on Israel by Hamas, and to demand the immediate release of all hostages and the end of war in Gaza, in Tel Aviv, Israel, October 4, 2025. (Reuters)
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Families of Israeli Hostages Urge Nobel Committee to Award Peace Prize to Trump

Demonstrators rally ahead of the two-year anniversary of the deadly October 7, 2023 attack on Israel by Hamas, and to demand the immediate release of all hostages and the end of war in Gaza, in Tel Aviv, Israel, October 4, 2025. (Reuters)
Demonstrators rally ahead of the two-year anniversary of the deadly October 7, 2023 attack on Israel by Hamas, and to demand the immediate release of all hostages and the end of war in Gaza, in Tel Aviv, Israel, October 4, 2025. (Reuters)

Families of hostages held by Hamas in Gaza urged the Norwegian Nobel Committee to award the Nobel Peace Prize to US President Donald Trump for what they say are his unprecedented contributions to world peace.

In a letter to the committee released Monday, family members said Trump’s determination to achieve peace "made possible what many said was impossible."

They said Trump deserves the prize because of his vow not to rest until every last hostage returns home and because no other leader or organization "has contributed more to peace around the world" in the last year.

The letter states that thanks to Trump’s peace plan that’s being negotiated, "for the first time in months, we are hopeful that our nightmare will finally be over."

Israeli and Hamas officials are holding indirect talks in an Egyptian resort Monday on a US peace plan for Gaza.

The talks in the Red Sea resort of Sharm el-Sheikh will focus on the first stage of a ceasefire, including the partial withdrawal of Israeli forces as well as the release of hostages held by Hamas in Gaza in exchange for Palestinian prisoners held in Israeli detention, according to a statement from Hamas.

The latest push for peace comes after Hamas accepted some elements of the US peace plan, a move welcomed by Trump. Israel has said it supported the new US effort. Under the plan, Hamas would release the remaining 48 hostages — about 20 believed to be alive — within three days. It would give up power and disarm.

Hamas-led fighters abducted 251 people and killed around 1,200 mostly civilians in the Oct. 7, 2023, attack that triggered the war. Most of the hostages have been released in ceasefire or other deals.

Gaza’s Health Ministry said the Palestinian death toll in the war reached 67,160 on Monday.

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World

Zelenskyy Visits Canada to Seek Further Military Support for Ukraine

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy (archive)
Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy (archive)
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Zelenskyy Visits Canada to Seek Further Military Support for Ukraine

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy (archive)
Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy (archive)

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy was in Canada on Thursday for talks with Prime Minister Mark Carney, his latest international trip aimed at locking in future support for Ukraine’s fight against Russia’s invasion.

Ukraine is under pressure from Russia’s air war, which is using ballistic missiles and jet-powered drones to pierce defenses. Moscow’s attacks have targeted Ukraine’s power grid ahead of the upcoming winter as part of its campaign to demoralize civilians, Ukrainian officials say.

“The main focus will be on supporting Ukraine in protecting our skies and preparing for the winter,” Zelenskyy said of his Canada trip in a social media post. “We will discuss how to strengthen our resilience, support our people, and ensure that Ukraine has the capabilities it needs to defend itself.”

Canada and European countries are sending their own weaponry to Ukraine and are also buying American weapons for Kyiv under the so-called Prioritized Ukraine Requirements List, or PURL. The United States under President Donald Trump has stopped donating weapons to Ukraine, The Associated Press said.

Recent US efforts to stop the more than four years of fighting have delivered no significant breakthrough, although Washington-brokered talks between delegations from Moscow and Kyiv are expected to continue.

Zelenskyy’s arrival on Wednesday night in Calgary, Alberta, came the day after his flight from Moldova to Norway was delayed when authorities closed Moldova’s airspace because of a drone incursion.

The aerial drone battle between Russia and Ukraine has grown in scale since Russia’s all-out invasion in February 2022. Ukraine’s neighbors Romania and Moldova, and other European countries, have reported repeated drone incursions.

Ukraine's drones now reach targets in Siberia, officials say

A Ukrainian sea drone wounded 28 people, including two children, on the waterfront in the Russian city of Sochi, local officials said. They said that beach infrastructure had been damaged but did not provide further details.

Russia’s Ministry of Defense said Thursday that its forces shot down 448 Ukrainian drones overnight. The drones were destroyed over 13 Russian regions, as well as the annexed Ukrainian peninsula of Crimea and the Black and Caspian seas, the ministry said.

Falling debris from a Ukrainian drone set fire to a home in Russia’s southwestern Voronezh region, killing one woman and wounding two other people, local Gov. Alexander Gusev said Thursday.

Ukrainian forces struck eight Russian infrastructure targets supporting the war effort over the past 24 hours, including a refinery in the Yamalo-Nenets region and a port in Dagestan, Zelenskyy said Thursday.

Targets in the Moscow, Voronezh, Astrakhan and Bryansk regions were also hit, he said.

Those targets were hundreds of kilometers (miles) apart, underlining the scope and scale of Ukraine's domestically developed long-range drone technology that has unsettled Russia.

The previous day, Ukrainian forces struck an oil refinery more than 3,000 kilometers (1,800 miles) from Ukraine in Siberia, Ukraine’s General Staff said, confirming earlier reports.

Meantime, Russian forces launched 149 drones, many of them jet-propelled, at Ukraine overnight, Ukraine’s air force said Thursday.

One person was killed and two others wounded in a Russian drone attack on the Kyiv region on Thursday morning, regional head Tymur Tkachenko said.

At least 16 other civilians were wounded in other Ukrainian regions, according to local authorities.

World

'Heavy Casualties' in Fire on Foreign-flagged Ship at China Port

Representation photo: China Fire and Rescue personnel arrive at Trishuli camp after inspecting the tunnel site in Rasuwa, in the aftermath of flash floods in Nepal's Nuwakot district on August 31, 2026. (Photo by Arun SANKAR / AFP)
Representation photo: China Fire and Rescue personnel arrive at Trishuli camp after inspecting the tunnel site in Rasuwa, in the aftermath of flash floods in Nepal's Nuwakot district on August 31, 2026. (Photo by Arun SANKAR / AFP)
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'Heavy Casualties' in Fire on Foreign-flagged Ship at China Port

Representation photo: China Fire and Rescue personnel arrive at Trishuli camp after inspecting the tunnel site in Rasuwa, in the aftermath of flash floods in Nepal's Nuwakot district on August 31, 2026. (Photo by Arun SANKAR / AFP)
Representation photo: China Fire and Rescue personnel arrive at Trishuli camp after inspecting the tunnel site in Rasuwa, in the aftermath of flash floods in Nepal's Nuwakot district on August 31, 2026. (Photo by Arun SANKAR / AFP)

A fire on a foreign-flagged cargo ship docked in an eastern Chinese port caused "heavy casualties" on Thursday, state media said, with President Xi Jinping calling for urgent search and rescue operations.

"A foreign cargo ship of Beihai Shipbuilding Co., Ltd. in Qingdao, Shandong Province, caught fire during its port call for maintenance, causing heavy casualties," state news agency Xinhua said.

Xinhua did not specify the number of casualties or the cause of the fire, said AFP.

Xi "stressed the need to urgently search for missing persons... and strictly hold those responsible to account", it added.

State media said that the fire broke out at around 11:15 am (0315 GMT). It was not clear whether it had already been extinguished.

Premier Li Qiang also urged the search and rescue of "trapped" people, and for those injured to receive medical treatment, "and strictly prevent secondary disasters".

Qingdao Beihai Shipbuilding is a major shipyard that operates as a subsidiary of the China State Shipbuilding Corporation.

Xi warned that "all regions and relevant departments must draw profound lessons from this incident, thoroughly investigate and rectify all types of fire hazards".

World

US Military Says It Struck Vessel in Caribbean, Killing Three

This screen grab from a video posted by US Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth on his X account on October 24, 2025, shows what Hegseth says is US military forces conducting a strike on a vessel being operated by Tren de Aragua trafficking narcotics in the Caribbean Sea in on October 23, 2025. (Photo by HANDOUT / US Secretary of Defense Pete Hegseth's X Account / AFP)
This screen grab from a video posted by US Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth on his X account on October 24, 2025, shows what Hegseth says is US military forces conducting a strike on a vessel being operated by Tren de Aragua trafficking narcotics in the Caribbean Sea in on October 23, 2025. (Photo by HANDOUT / US Secretary of Defense Pete Hegseth's X Account / AFP)
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US Military Says It Struck Vessel in Caribbean, Killing Three

This screen grab from a video posted by US Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth on his X account on October 24, 2025, shows what Hegseth says is US military forces conducting a strike on a vessel being operated by Tren de Aragua trafficking narcotics in the Caribbean Sea in on October 23, 2025. (Photo by HANDOUT / US Secretary of Defense Pete Hegseth's X Account / AFP)
This screen grab from a video posted by US Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth on his X account on October 24, 2025, shows what Hegseth says is US military forces conducting a strike on a vessel being operated by Tren de Aragua trafficking narcotics in the Caribbean Sea in on October 23, 2025. (Photo by HANDOUT / US Secretary of Defense Pete Hegseth's X Account / AFP)

The US military said on Wednesday three people were killed in a strike on a vessel in the Caribbean Sea, the latest in a series of attacks that Washington says target "narco-terrorists" but human rights groups condemn as extrajudicial ‌killings, Reuters said.

DETAILS:

* US Southern ‌Command said on ‌X ⁠it "executed a lethal kinetic strike ⁠on a go-fast vessel operating along established narco-trafficking routes in the Caribbean."

* It cited "confirmed intelligence" to allege the vessel's active involvement in narco-trafficking, without providing more details.

* The US military said three people, ‌whom it ‌called "narco-terrorists," were killed.

* President Donald Trump's ‌administration has said the vessels it ‌has struck since September 2025 were transporting narcotics.

* The US military's strikes on such vessels in the Caribbean and Eastern ‌Pacific have killed more than 220 people.

* Experts and rights ⁠advocates, ⁠both in the US and globally, have questioned the legality of the strikes.

* Human Rights Watch, Amnesty International and independent UN experts have called the strikes unlawful extrajudicial killings.

* The American Civil Liberties Union has cast the assertions by the Trump administration against those it targets as "unsubstantiated, fear-mongering claims."