Friday, Apr 11th
Last update08:28:06 AM GMT
International Glance
Friedrich Merz's conservatives have won Germany's election, well ahead of rival parties but short of the 30% vote-share they had expected.
"Let's celebrate tonight and in the morning we'll get to work," he told cheering supporters. He said he was "aware of the responsibility that now lies ahead" of him.
The other winner was the far-right Alternative for Germany (AfD), who are celebrating a record second-place result of 20.8%.
Sir Keir Starmer will discuss the importance of Ukraine's sovereignty in talks with Donald Trump next week, he said in a call with the country's president.
The UK prime minister reiterated the UK's "ironclad support" for Kyiv when he spoke to Volodymyr Zelensky on Saturday.
The two leaders held their second telephone conversation in four days following US President Trump's decision to re-open relations with Russia and seek an end to the war in Ukraine.
Monday marks three years since Vladimir Putin's invasion, which UK Foreign Secretary David Lammy said he will mark with further sanctions on Russia.
Hamas released six Israeli hostages early Saturday in three different locations throughout Gaza, in exchange for more than 600 Palestinian prisoners and detainees freed from Israeli jails. This is the largest number of Palestinian prisoners to be released at once since the beginning of the ceasefire which began in January.
This comes two days after Hamas returned the bodies of four Israeli hostages, one of which was supposed to be Shiri Bibas, a mother who was 32 years old at the time of her kidnapping. Israeli forensic testing showed that those remains were in fact that of an unidentified woman. On Friday, Hamas returned a second body, which Israeli authorities confirmed was that of Bibas.
Pope Francis was in critical condition Saturday after he suffered a prolonged asthmatic respiratory crisis while being treated for pneumonia and a complex lung infection, the Vatican said.
The 88-year-old pope, who remains conscious, received “high flows” of oxygen to help him breathe. He also received blood transfusions after tests showed low counts of platelets, which are needed for clotting, the Vatican said in a late update.
“The Holy Father’s condition continues to be critical, therefore, as explained yesterday (Friday), the pope is not out of danger,” the statement said. It was the first time “critical” had been used in a written statement to describe Francis’ condition since he was hospitalized Feb. 14.
Two Palestinian children were killed by Israeli army gunfire in two separate incidents on Friday in the occupied West Bank.
The first victim was 13-year-old Ayman Nassar al-Himouni, who was fatally shot in the southern West Bank city of Hebron.
The Palestinian Red Crescent Society reported that its teams transported the child, who died from injuries sustained by Israeli army fire in Hebron's Jabal Juhar neighborhood, to a local hospital.
Eyewitnesses told Anadolu that al-Haimouni was killed by Israeli forces' bullets, following clashes in the area.
Hamas on Friday released the names of six living Israeli hostages who the militants plan to release from Gaza on Saturday. Under the terms of the ceasefire deal, more than 600 Palestinians will also be freed from Israeli prisons in exchange, according to the Hamas-linked Palestinian prisoners media office.
The announcements are a sign the fragile ceasefire deal remains on track despite the tensions following Israeli allegations overnight that hostage Shiri Bibas’ body was not returned to Israel as promised by Hamas.
The militant group insists it is sticking to the truce deal and “has no interest in withholding any bodies in its possession.” The militant group says the four dead hostages it handed over Thursday had been killed by an Israeli airstrike in November 2023, and the bodies could have been misidentified because of bombardments in the area.
President Trump’s special envoy to Ukraine and Russia called Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky an “embattled and courageous leader” after meetings in Kyiv on Friday, a notable shift from Trump’s recent attacks on Zelensky.
“A long and intense day with the senior leadership of Ukraine. Extensive and positive discussions with @ZelenskyyUa, the embattled and courageous leader of a nation at war and his talented national security team,” Keith Kellogg posted on the social platform X.
Kellogg, a retired U.S. Army lieutenant general who served as a national security official in Trump’s first term, met with Zelensky to discuss the path forward as the Trump administration pushes for an end to the war in Ukraine.
Zelensky wrote on X that the meeting “was one that restores hope, and we need strong agreements with the U.S. — agreements that will truly work.”
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