Hamas released Israeli hostages Iair Horn, Sagui Dekel Chen and Sasha (Alexander) Troufanov in Gaza on Saturday, and Israel began freeing some 369 Palestinian prisoners and detainees in exchange, after mediators helped avert a ceasefire collapse.The three Israelis were led onto a stage with Palestinian Hamas militants armed with automatic rifles standing on each side of them at the site in Khan Younis, live footage showed, before they were taken into Israel by Israeli forces..U.S. Secretary of State Marco Rubio told South Korea's Foreign Minister that the United States wants to maintain a stable trust relationship with South Korea regardless of the domestic situation of either country, the South Korean ministry said in a statement on Friday.Rubio and South Korean Foreign Minister Cho Tae-yul agreed in a meeting in Germany to work closely toward the goal of complete denuclearisation of North Korea, and shared concerns about military cooperation between Russia and North Korea, the ministry said..The chief of Uganda's defence forces, General Muhoozi Kainerugaba, said in a post on X on Saturday that he would attack the town of Bunia in neighbouring eastern Congo unless "all forces" there surrendered their arms within 24 hours.Kainerugaba, who has a history of posting provocative comments on foreign policy, said he had the authority of President Yoweri Museveni, who is also his father.A spokesman for Uganda's military said he could not comment on the matter..German conservative opposition leader Friedrich Merz on Saturday joined his domestic political rivals in condemning U.S. Vice President JD Vance's attack on Europe's stance toward hate speech and the far right."We stick to the rules imposed by our democratic institutions," Merz said in a panel discussion at the Munich Security Conference.Polls show his conservative bloc in the lead ahead of general elections in Germany on February 23.
