The Israeli government and Hamas say they are in the final stages of indirect talks over a deal for a ceasefire and the release of hostages held in Gaza and Palestinian prisoners held by Israel.

The agreement is set to be implemented in three phases, the first of which would last 42 days.

The deal would deliver the first reprieve from war for the people of Gaza in more than a year, and only the second since Hamas’ October 7, 2023, attack.

The first phase would see the release of 33 hostages held by Hamas and its allies since October 7, including women, children, men over the age of 50 and wounded people.

Israel would release “many hundreds” of Palestinian prisoners in exchange, an Israeli official said, including Palestinians convicted of killing Israelis.

Israel has not yet committed to an exact number of prisoners to release, the official said, because Hamas has not yet said how many of the 33 hostages are alive. Israel has agreed to release a larger number of Palestinian prisoners for live hostages than for the bodies of the deceased.

The Israeli military would begin withdrawing from population centers during the first phase, but would remain along the Gaza-Egypt border, known as the Philadelphi Corridor, the official said.

Israel would also maintain a buffer zone inside Gaza along the border with Israel, the size of which has been one of the final sticking points in the negotiations.

The deal is expected to include the release of five female Israeli soldiers held by Hamas in the first phase of the agreement, each of whom would be exchanged for 50 Palestinian prisoners, including 30 convicted militants who are serving life sentences, The Associated Press reported.

Palestinian prisoners deemed responsible for killing Israelis would not be released into the West Bank, but rather to the Gaza Strip or abroad following agreements with foreign countries.

Hamas and its allies still hold 94 people taken from Israel on October 7, 2023. At least 34 of them are dead, according to the Israeli government, though the true number is expected to be higher. Hamas holds an additional four hostages who have been captive since 2014, at least two of whom are dead.

Of the 94 hostages taken on October 7, 81 are men and 13 are women, according to the Israeli Prime Minister’s Office. Two are children under the age of five; 84 are Israelis, eight are Thai, one is Nepalese and one is Tanzanian.

Israel holds at least 10,000 Palestinian prisoners, according to the Commission of Detainees Affairs and the Palestinian Prisoners’ Society – though that number does not include an unknown number of Palestinians taken captive in Gaza. The figure of Palestinian prisoners held by Israel includes 3,376 people held under administrative detention, meaning they have had no public charges against them nor faced trial, including 95 children and 22 women.

Second phase intended to end war

Negotiations to reach the second and third phases of a ceasefire agreement – which is intended to end the war – would begin on the 16th day of the implementation of the deal, according to the Israeli official.

The ceasefire is not guaranteed to continue beyond the first phase of the deal. However, the official said Israel is eager to “bring all our hostages back home” and will enter negotiations to enter the second phase of the agreement in good faith, which could lead to the full withdrawal of Israeli forces from Gaza.

Israel does not commit to ending the war in the agreement but has committed to engage in negotiations to enter the next phase of the deal — which would lead to the full withdrawal of Israeli troops. The Associated Press reported that the mediators gave Hamas verbal guarantees that they will pressure Israel to reach a deal for the next phases of the agreement.

The Israeli military has killed at least 46,645 Palestinians in Gaza since launching its offensive in response to Hamas’ October 7 attack, according to the Palestinian Ministry of Health. More than 110,000 people have been injured.

One of Pope Francis’ lasting reforms will be his reshaping of the papacy to embrace simplicity and humility, as seen in his decisions to live in a Vatican guesthouse and carry his own briefcase onto the papal plane.

With the release of a new autobiography Tuesday, titled “Hope,” Francis underlines this shift with a remarkable openness about his past mistakes and wrongdoings. They include as a young man getting into a fight with a fellow student who “even lost his senses” after hitting his head when thrown to the ground, and insisting that he still commits “errors and sins” today.

For a pope, who Catholic theology holds is “infallible” when teaching on faith and morals, it is even more striking.

“I feel I have a reputation I do not deserve, a public esteem of which I am not worthy,” writes Francis, who was recently awarded the highest civilian honor in the United States by President Joe Biden. “This, beyond doubt, is my strongest sentiment.”

While the memoir covers major events in the Francis papacy, including the revelation that he faced two assassination attempts during his 2021 visit to Iraq, it does not offer many new details about the scandals and controversies he’s had to address during his pontificate and the significant opposition he’s encountered from some church quarters.

On the Catholic Church’s sexual abuse scandal, the pope says he has felt “called to take responsibility for all the evil committed by certain priests.” Francis explained that as he began his pontificate in 2013, Pope Emeritus Benedict XVI gave him a large white box filled with documents “relating to the most difficult and painful situations: cases of abuse, corruption, dark dealings, wrongdoings.” The pope recalls that when he was handed the box, his predecessor said “everything is in here” and that “now it’s your turn” to deal with the problems.

The 88-year-old pontiff also uses the memoir to address the crises facing today’s world. Describing himself as having always been “politically restless,” he repeatedly condemns the evils of war, while linking the rise of populism today to that of the 1930s and Hitler’s Germany. (Francis was born in 1936 and recalls his grandmother standing up to Mussolini’s black shirts.)

Young people, he writes, need to know “how a distorted populism is born and grows,” recalling the “German federal elections of 1932–33 and Adolf Hitler, the ex-infantryman obsessed by the defeat of World War I and about ‘racial purity,’ who had promised the growth of Germany in the wake of a government that had failed.”

The plight of refugees, for whom Francis has been a tireless advocate, is also personal. His paternal grandparents and father had planned to sail in 1927 on the Principessa Mafalda from Italy to Argentina, which sank with the loss of many lives, but ended up making a later crossing. It has made Francis sensitive to the dangers faced by today’s migrants, and he criticizes those countries which produce weapons but then “refuse and turn away the refugees who have been generated by those weapons and by those conflicts.”

Francis’ earthy humility can be traced back to his upbringing. In the memoir, the first Latin American pontiff recalls growing up in the Flores barrio in Buenos Aires, depicting a joyful, varied and close-knit community with people from different faiths but a place where he also saw the “darker and more difficult side of existence,” such as the “prison world” and prostitution.

Later, as a bishop in the Argentine capital, he ministered to prostitutes and recalls how he gave the last rites to one sex worker from his childhood neighbourhood, La Porota, saying that “even now, I don’t forget to pray for her on the day of her death.” Francis’ awareness of human struggles, and his own failings, has made him insist time and again on the importance of God’s mercy. And throughout his pontificate, he has made efforts to welcome LGBTQ+ people, re-iterating in his memoir that God “loves them (gay people) as they are” and describing a group of transgender women who met him in the Vatican as “daughters of God!”

The new autobiography underlines that Francis remains a pope who has a voice that can connect with people beyond the institution of the Catholic Church. The memoir was written over six years in collaboration with Carlo Musso, from Italian publisher Mondadori, and is being released in major languages in over 80 countries.

It follows the publication of another Francis memoir, “Life,” last year. “Hope” was originally due to be published after the pontiff’s death but its release has been brought forward to coincide with the Catholic Church’s jubilee year.

As for the future, the pope says he has not considered resigning, even though it is a “possibility,” and he addresses some of his health difficulties in recent years. Francis says that he is currently in good health and has physiotherapy twice a week, but the “reality is, quite simply, that I am old.” He expected to be elected pope, he says, but since that moment has revealed a determination to remain grounded.

He explains how he shunned the papal apartments in the isolated Vatican’s apostolic palace for the Casa Santa Marta guesthouse because he “cannot live without people around me” and insists on the importance of keeping a sense of humor. That is also evident in the memoir – for instance, when the pope explains how he was told to wear white trousers, rather than black, to go under his new white papal cassock.

“They made me laugh. I don’t want to be an ice cream seller, I said. And I kept my own,” the pope writes.

South Korean authorities investigating President Yoon Suk Yeol have arrived at his official residence in a second attempt to detain the embattled leader for questioning over his short-lived declaration of martial law last month, according to South Korea’s Yonhap news agency.

Vehicles from the Corruption Investigation Office (CIO), which is working with police and the defense ministry to investigate Yoon, were seen arriving at the property early Wednesday, according to Yonhap. Members of the police appeared to be part of the arrest team.

Meanwhile, video from Reuters also showed groups of protesters crowding the main gate of the residence. A white van marked “POLICE” with flashing blue lights was also seen approaching the entrance flanked by uniformed officers.

Despite sub-zero conditions, demonstrators could be heard chanting “resign,” “your time is up” and “take responsibility.”

The crowds were accompanied by lines of uniformed police, and a combination of police buses and protester buses remained outside the residence, blockading the street.

Video from YTN showed a large sign on the back of one bus that read “Yoon Suk Yeol, Step Down” and “Insurrection Department – Yoon Suk Yeol” in Korean. Both slogans are typical for anti-Yoon protests since the president launched his abortive attempt at declaring martial law.

For weeks, the embattled president has been holed up in his fortified residence, surrounded by his Presidential Security Service team, evading arrest as he faces several probes and an impeachment trial following his short-lived decree.

Yoon is wanted for questioning in multiple investigations, including over accusations of leading an insurrection – a crime punishable by life imprisonment or even the death penalty.

Efforts to take him into custody earlier this month were thwarted after an hours-long showdown in which soldiers and members of the presidential security detail blocked some 80 police and investigators from approaching the presidential compound.

Martial law declaration

Yoon declared martial law in a surprise late-night address on December 3, claiming opposition lawmakers had “paralyzed state affairs” and that the move was necessary to “safeguard a liberal South Korea” from the threats posed by “anti-state elements.”

Members of the National Assembly, including some from Yoon’s own party, voted to reverse the declaration some six hours later. Yoon’s order faced fierce backlash from the public and lawmakers across the political spectrum, reviving painful memories of the country’s authoritarian past.

In the weeks since, the country has been in political disarray with parliament also voting to impeach its prime minister and acting president Han Duck-soo, just weeks after it voted to impeach Yoon. The finance minister Choi Sang-mok is now acting president.

This is a developing story and will be updated.

Catherine, Princess of Wales revealed on Tuesday that she is in remission from cancer, following a visit to the London hospital where she was treated last year.

Catherine, in a post on social media, spoke of her “relief to now be in remission” and that she remained focused on her recovery.

“As anyone who has experienced a cancer diagnosis will know, it takes time to adjust to a new normal,” the 43-year-old said in a post on X. “I am however looking forward to a fulfilling year ahead. There is much to look forward to. Thank you to everyone for your continued support.”

Earlier Tuesday, the princess had made the returned to The Royal Marsden NHS Foundation Trust in Chelsea, west London, where she met medical teams and spoke to patients who are currently receiving treatment, Kensington Palace said.

The unannounced visit was her first solo engagement of the year as the royal continues a phased return to her public duties.

Catherine, who is also known as Kate, stepped back from her public duties last year to undergo treatment for an unspecified cancer. In September, she announced that she had completed her chemotherapy, and said she was “doing what I can to stay cancer free.”

Following her poignant visit, Kate said on social media that she had “wanted to take the opportunity to say thank you to The Royal Marsden for looking after me so well during the past year.”

“My heartfelt thanks goes to all those who have quietly walked alongside William and me as we have navigated everything. We couldn’t have asked for more,” she added. “The care and advice we have received throughout my time as a patient has been exceptional.”

A deeply personal visit

During her visit on Tuesday, Kate also spent some time with fellow patients also undergoing treatment. According to Britain’s PA Media news agency, the princess joked with one patient that she’d grown “attached” to her medication port – a small device inserted under the skin to deliver chemotherapy drugs.

Speaking to dozens of patients at the hospital’s Medical Day Unit, PA Media reported, Kate noted that chemo is “really tough. It’s such a shock.”

The palace also announced Kate had become joint patron of the specialist cancer center, alongside her husband, Prince William.

Kensington Palace said that the princess had wanted to return to the hospital “to both show her gratitude to the incredible team, but also highlight the world leading care and treatment the Marsden provides.”

Prince William last week praised his wife and mother of their three children as she celebrated her 43rd birthday, saying “the strength you’ve shown over the last year has been remarkable.”

The Royal Marsden was the world’s first hospital dedicated to cancer diagnosis, treatment, research and education when it first opened in 1851. Today, the facility remains a world-leading cancer center.

Prince William has held the role of president of the hospital since 2007, a role that previously belonged to his late mother, Diana.

As joint royal patron, it is understood that Kate will support the hospital’s work in advancing cancer research, treatment and care as well as learning more about how it can benefit patients in the future. The royal said that she hoped that through her joint royal patronage that “we might save many more lives, and transform the experience of all those impacted by cancer.”

The hospital’s chief executive, Cally Palmer, said: “We are incredibly fortunate to receive Royal Patronage – it is inspiring for staff and patients and enables us to shine a light on the outstanding work our staff deliver every day for patients and their families.”

The South African government has launched a rescue operation at an abandoned gold mine in the country’s North West province, where at least 109 men have died, a group representing the miners said, after local authorities cut off vital supplies in a dramatic bid to crack down on the country’s illegal mining trade.

As of Tuesday evening, at least 51 bodies and 66 survivors had been pulled out of the Stilfontein mine, according to South African police, with many more feared trapped inside.

While estimates varied on how many men were in the mine, Meshack Mbangula, head of the Mining Affected Communities United in Action (MACUA), had earlier estimated that 500 people were trapped underground.

The video, filmed by one of the miners last week, according to Mbangula, also shows shirtless, emaciated-looking men with protruding bones and ribs.

A man speaking in Zulu, pleads to be rescued in one scene. Another man says: “How many days must we live in a situation like this.”

“Please take us out. Please assist us to come out or if not, please give us food because [there are] people who are dead. We’ve got 109 people dead and we need plastic to wrap them because the smell is too much, we can’t stand the smell,” the miners said in the letter.

Community-led groups like MACUA say they have led the effort to help the trapped miners for months, he said, as police cut off food and vital supplies to the men in November in an attempt to force them out and close the mine.

The police’s move – a self-described crackdown on the illegal mining industry – has drawn criticism from community groups and South Africa’s Federation of Trade Unions (SAFTU), who in November called it “vindictive,” and one that may “end in a tragedy.”

Police spokesperson Athlenda Mathe told reporters in November that food and water supplies to those underground had been halted. “We are stopping and preventing food and water to go down there as a way of forcing these illegal miners to resurface because what they are doing is criminality,” she said.

Miners would face arrest upon resurfacing, according to police.

In November, a South African court ordered police to halt its standoff, provide food to the trapped miners and allow rescue teams to access the mine. The nation’s Human Rights Commission (SAHRC) also said it was investigating the police service for halting vital supplies to the miners.

On Sunday, facing intensifying public pressure and reports that many of the miners had already died, the Department of Mineral Resources and Energy said it had begun plans to conduct a rescue operation at the abandoned shaft. The mineral resources department said “the decision to deploy rescue services was made independently” and not mandated by a court.

South Africa harbors up to 100,000 artisanal miners, known locally as “zama zamas” with most of the minerals derived from artisanal mining “sold to the black market, and international illicit mineral traders,” according to SAFTU.

The nation also loses more than $1 billion to illegal mining annually, with the black market trade in gold linked to violent turf wars, according to a parliamentary brief.

For three days, Wang Xing lived in fear. His head had been shaved. He couldn’t sleep and was in a strange place where his captors forced him to type – the first phase of training for an unwanted role.

The 31-year-old Chinese actor had flown to Bangkok for what he expected to be a movie casting call. Instead, he was picked up at the airport and driven to a scam center in Myanmar’s Myawaddy, a notorious cyber-fraud hub across the border from Thailand.

Wang is among hundreds of thousands of people who have been trafficked into scam compounds – many run by Chinese crime syndicates – that have proliferated in civil war-torn Myanmar and other parts of Southeast Asia in recent years. Often lured by the promise of well-paying jobs or other enticing opportunities, victims are held against their will and forced to carry out online fraud schemes in heavily guarded compounds, where former detainees say beatings and torture are common.

But Wang considers himself one of the lucky few. On January 7, just days after he was reported missing in the Thai border town of Mae Sot, Thai police said they located him in Myawaddy and brought him back to Thailand, without revealing the details of the operation.

The actor’s subsequent safe return to China has spurred hundreds of Chinese families to call on their government to help find and free their loved ones, who they believe are still trapped in the scam centers. Some have been missing for months or even years.

Wang’s ordeal has also put pressure on Thailand. Chinese tourists are expressing their fears on social media about traveling to the Southeast Asian nation – with some canceling their trips – frustrating Thailand’s efforts to rebuild its pandemic-hit tourism sector, which counts China as its largest and most critical market.

Thai authorities have been in damage control, attempting to reassure worried Chinese tourists that the country is safe.

Upon Wang’s return to Thailand, Thai police officials stood by the actor as he addressed Thai media in English. After asking Wang to thank the Thai government on camera, the official said, “You think Thailand is safe for you, right? Can you speak in Chinese to tell people?”

“Thailand is quite safe, so there’s no need to worry,” Wang replied. “If I have the chance in the future, I will definitely come back here again.”

‘Glimmer of hope’

Shortly after Wang’s rescue, a joint petition from the families of 174 Chinese nationals missing in Myanmar trended on Chinese social media, pleading the government to do more to help bring them home.

“We have no intention of inciting any confrontation; we simply hope to genuinely draw the government’s attention and accelerate efforts to intensify and expedite crackdowns,” the petition said.

A spreadsheet was shared online for family members to fill in details of their loved ones. It has grown from the initial 174 to include more than 1,200 victims.

Among the cases listed is Zhang Huizhen, a 24-year-old fresh graduate who went missing in October on a trip to Thailand and Cambodia. Before she vanished, she shared her location with a friend showing she was near Mae Sot. She also texted her mother, saying she had been busy lately and might not be able to reply to messages promptly, her family said.

Zhang’s family reported her missing to police in their home province of Zhejiang and reached out to the Chinese embassy in Thailand for help, but they have not received any news about her for more than 70 days.

In a video filmed aboard a police plane heading back to Bangkok, Wang said he’d been on a shoot in Thailand in 2018 and didn’t fret over this one too much. It wasn’t until he was pushed into a car by armed men that he began to realize he may have been driven across the border to Myanmar.

Wang said at least 50 people were held in the same building as him. “There were more in another building, and people came from different countries,” he said.

Alarmed by Wang’s disappearance, his girlfriend shared a desperate plea for help online, which racked up hundreds of millions of views and made headlines in state media.

After his release, many Chinese social media users questioned what happened to the dozens of other people also trapped in the compound. “You can’t just save him because he’s famous, right?” said a top comment.

Li Jie, a cousin of 21-year-old Liu Junjie who disappeared in Myawaddy on January 5, said she hoped authorities in China and Thailand would work together to save more victims. “I feel that the power of public opinion is strong, so it gives me hope,” she said.

China has worked with authorities in Myanmar to crack down on scam centers in northern Shan state, near the Chinese border. In 2023, as ethnic rebel groups gained ground against Myanmar’s ruling junta, powerful warlord families – backed by the military to rule the region and oversee these fraud operations – were apprehended and handed to Chinese police.

Chinese authorities say large-scale scam compounds in northern Myanmar have been “completely eradicated,” with more than 53,000 Chinese “suspects” – including trafficked victims – sent back to China.

But many scam centers have moved further south in Myanmar, including to Myawaddy, according to NGOs and experts who have long tracked these criminal operations.

The Civil Society Network for Victim Assistance in Human Trafficking, an NGO based in Thailand, estimates that about 6,000 victims from 21 countries are held under duress at the scam compounds in Myawaddy, including about 3,900 Chinese nationals.

The deluge of headlines has also put pressure on the Hong Kong government to bring home a dozen city residents stranded in the scam canters.

Andy Yu, a former local councilor, who has been advocating for the families since last summer, said the government hadn’t made much progress – until Wang’s rescue.

Hong Kong dispatched a task force to Thailand this week to follow up on their cases. Officials said they had received “an eager response” from the Thai government but no timeline had been set for their rescue.

Travel scares

The publicity around Wang’s case couldn’t have come at a worse time for Thai tourist operators, who had been expecting a surge of arrivals during the Lunar New Year holiday, China’s peak travel season.

But there are signs Chinese tourists are looking elsewhere.

Over the weekend, flight cancellations from China to Thailand surged 150%, Chinese state media reported, citing data from travel analytics firm ForwardKeys. And on Xiaohongshu, an Instagram-like Chinese app that is often used for travel advice, users shared tips on how to cancel flights and hotels in Thailand with minimal costs.

A tour operator in southern Guangdong province said he had seen a significant drop in bookings to Thailand following the recent headlines, with reservations for the upcoming Lunar New Year holiday at just 40% of the total this time last year.

Hong Kong pop star Eason Chan canceled his upcoming concert in Bangkok, citing safety concerns for fans. Zhao Benshan, a Chinese comedy titan, also axed his February show in the Thai capital over “safety issues.”

Safety concerns about traveling to Thailand have gained traction in China before, including in early 2023, after the country reopened its borders from the pandemic. Later in the year, “No More Bets,” a Chinese thriller set in an unnamed Southeast Asian country where people are lured to work in scam factories, became a box office hit.

For nearly a decade before the pandemic, China was Thailand’s largest source of foreign tourists. But it saw a sharp drop in Chinese tourists in 2020 when China shut its borders and restricted “non-essential” overseas travel.

Last March, in an effort to boost tourism, the two countries waived visa requirements for each other’s citizens. China reclaimed its position as the top source of visitors in Thailand last year, though the number of Chinese arrivals only recovered to about 60% of pre-pandemic levels.

The latest safety fears sparked by Wang’s abduction could pose a challenge to Thailand’s efforts to further boost that number.

Sisdivachr Cheewarattanaporn, president of the Association of Thai Travel Agents, acknowledged that these concerns would undoubtedly affect the Chinese tourism market, particularly among tour groups. However, he said the extent of the impact remains uncertain.