ISTANBUL (AP) — A top Hamas political official told The Associated Press the Islamic militant group is willing to agree to a truce of five years or more with Israel and that it would lay down its weapons and convert into a political party if an independent Palestinian state is established along pre-1967 borders.

The comments by Khalil al-Hayya in an interview Wednesday came amid a stalemate in months of cease-fire talks. The suggestion that Hamas would disarm appeared to be a significant concession by the militant group officially committed to Israel’s destruction.

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Katharina Wagner will lead the Bayreuth Festival for 5 more years
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AP

Katharina Wagner will lead the Bayreuth Festival for 5 more years

  • AP

The Bayreuth Festival in Germany has announced it is retaining Katharina Wagner as its director for another five years. Wagner, who turns 46 on May 21 and is a great-granddaughter of Richard Wagner, became co-head of the festival in September 2008, along with her half-sister Eva Wagner-Pasquier. Katharina then took over as sole head in 2015. The festival announced an agreement with government officials in which a manager will be hired to run business operations, leaving the festival director to make artistic decisions within the budget set by the shareholders.

Austrian court says convicted rapist Josef Fritzl can be moved to prison from psychiatric detention
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AP

Austrian court says convicted rapist Josef Fritzl can be moved to prison from psychiatric detention

  • AP

An Austrian court has ruled that a man who kept his daughter captive for 24 years, raped her thousands of times and fathered seven children with her, can be moved from psychiatric detention to a regular prison. The decision on Monday follows a legal back-and-forth on Josef Fritzl’s future. The state court in Krems said Tuesday the 89-year-old can be moved as he no longer poses the kind of danger that requires keeping him in psychiatric detention. The decision was made based on a hearing with Fritzl as well as reports by forensic and psychiatric experts. The court said, however, that he can’t be released from detention altogether.

Georgian parliament holds 3rd and final reading of divisive bill on foreign influence
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AP

Georgian parliament holds 3rd and final reading of divisive bill on foreign influence

  • AP

Georgia’s parliament has begun the third and final reading of a divisive bill that sparked weeks of mass protests, with critics seeing it as a threat to democratic freedoms and the country’s aspirations to join the European Union. The bill would require media and nongovernmental organizations and other nonprofits to register as “pursuing the interests of a foreign power” if they receive more than 20% of their funding from abroad. The opposition denounces the bill as “the Russian law,” because Moscow uses similar legislation to crack down on independent news media, nonprofits and activists critical of the Kremlin. Demonstrations against the bill have rocked Georgia for weeks.

AP exclusive: Maradona heirs say his Golden Ball trophy was stolen. They want to stop its auction
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AP

AP exclusive: Maradona heirs say his Golden Ball trophy was stolen. They want to stop its auction

  • By SAMUEL PETREQUIN and ALEX TURNBULL - Associated Press

Diego Maradona’s heirs want to stop the auction of a trophy he was awarded after the 1986 World Cup won by Argentina. It had been missing for decades and recently resurfaced. Their lawyer told The Associated Press he will launch an urgent request to have the Golden Ball withdrawn from the sale next month in Paris. He told the AP he will also request a judicial sequestration of the trophy and file a complaint for theft and concealed theft. Maradona died in 2020 at age 60. He captained Argentina in its 3-2 win over West Germany in the 1986 final in Mexico City. Maradona’s heirs say the trophy was stolen and claim the current owner cannot be entitled to sell it.

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AP

Migration tracking group says 76 million people were displaced within their countries in 2023

  • By JAMEY KEATEN - Associated Press

A top migration monitoring group says conflicts and natural disasters left nearly 76 million people displaced within their countries last year, a new record. Violence in Sudan, Congo and the Middle East together drove two-thirds of the new movement. The Internal Displacement Monitoring Center report found the number of internally displaced people has jumped by 50% over the past five years. The displacement of more than 9 million people in Sudan at the end of 2023 was a record for a single country since the center started tracking such figures 16 years ago. The group reported a total of 3.4 million movements within Gaza in the last quarter of 2023 as many people moved more than once.

Japan's Sony reports surge in profit on strong sales of movies, games and music
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AP

Japan's Sony reports surge in profit on strong sales of movies, games and music

  • By YURI KAGEYAMA - AP Business Writer

Sony has reported that its profit surged 34% in the last quarter from a year earlier on strong sales of its video games, music and movies. A weak yen also boosted the value of Sony's overseas earnings. The Japanese electronics and entertainment company said Tuesday its quarterly profit totaled about $1.2 billion. Sales for the maker of the PlayStation game machines rose 14%. The company's overall profitability was hurt by its financial services segment, which is being partially spun off next year. Sony's chief financial officer, Hiroki Totoki, said Sony is reshaping its strategy to focus on its more profitable entertainment operations. He declined comment on reports about Sony's interest in purchasing Paramount Global.

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AP

Protesters in Pakistan-held Kashmir end rallies that killed 4 after authorities revoke price hikes

  • AP

Protesters in the Pakistan-controlled part of the disputed Himalayan region of Kashmir have called off dayslong rallies over price hikes that left four people dead. The organizers said on Tuesday the demonstrations ended after authorities agreed to their demands and lowered the prices of electricity and wheat. The protests against price hikes erupted last Friday and quickly turned violent. Four people, including a police officer, were killed in what were the worst clashes in years in the territory between demonstrators and security forces, who used tear gas and opened fire. Authorities said more than 100 policemen were injured.

Scarred by war, Nigeria’s wounded soldiers fought to recover at Prince Harry's Invictus Games
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AP

Scarred by war, Nigeria’s wounded soldiers fought to recover at Prince Harry's Invictus Games

  • By CHINEDU ASADU - Associated Press

One evening in November 2020, a year into his military service, Peacemaker Azuegbulam’s dream of being a soldier came to an abrupt end. He was among a group of Nigerian soldiers deployed in that country’s counteroffensive against Islamic extremists when an anti-aircraft weapon was fired at them. When he regained consciousness, his life was no longer the same, and his left leg was later amputated. He was given what he called a chance to recover when he joined Nigeria’s team in last year’s Invictus Games and won Africa’s first gold medal at the event founded by Prince Harry to aid in the rehabilitation of wounded soldiers.

Russia arrests another senior Defense Ministry official in bribery charges amid broader shake-up
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AP

Russia arrests another senior Defense Ministry official in bribery charges amid broader shake-up

  • By The Associated Press

Russian authorities have arrested another senior Defense Ministry official on the charges of bribery, a move that comes after President Vladimir Putin replaced the defense minister in a Cabinet shake-up and amid expectations of further purges at the ministry. The Investigative Committee, Russia’s top law enforcement body, said in a statement Tuesday that the chief of the ministry’s main personnel directorate, Lt. Gen. Yury Kuznetsov, was arrested on the charges of bribery and placed in custody pending investigation and trial. Putin on Sunday replaced Sergei Shoigu as defense minister in a Cabinet shakeup that comes as he begins his fifth term in office. That move followed the arrest of Shoigu's deputy, Timur Ivanov, who is also accused of accepting a bribe.

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AP

Medical residents are increasingly avoiding states with abortion restrictions

  • Julie Rovner, KFF Health News, Rachana Pradhan - KFF Health News (TNS)

Isabella Rosario Blum was wrapping up medical school and considering residency programs to become a family practice physician when she got some frank advice: If she wanted to be trained to provide abortions, she shouldn’t stay in Arizona.