During a signing ceremony Wednesday for the Laken Riley Act, President Donald Trump claimed that his administration had "identified and stopped $50 million being sent to Gaza to buy condoms for Hamas."

Karoline Leavitt, the White House press secretary, made a similar claim on Tuesday during her debut press briefing, stating that the Department of Government Efficiency and the Office of Management and Budget "found that there was about to be 50 million taxpayer dollars that went out the door to fund condoms in Gaza." She called the alleged aid "a preposterous waste of taxpayer money." But there's no credible evidence to support these claims.

The White House stenographers have a problem. Donald Trump is talking so much, the people responsible for transcribing his public remarks are struggling to keep up with all the words.

There were more than 22,000 on Inauguration Day, then another 17,000 when Trump visited disaster sites in North Carolina and California. It's enough to strain the ears and fingers of even the most dedicated stenographer, especially after four years of Joe Biden's relative quiet.

Philippine President Ferdinand Marcos Jr. offered on Friday to remove a U.S. missile system from the Philippines if China halts what he called its "aggressive and coercive behavior" in the disputed South China Sea.

The U.S. Army installed the Typhon mid-range missile system in the northern Philippines in April last year to support what the longtime treaty allies described as training for joint combat readiness.

Everyone aboard American Airlines jet that collided with Army helicopter while landing at Ronald Reagan National Airport near Washington is feared dead, a fire chief said Thursday.

The Wednesday crash prompted a large search-and-rescue operation in the nearby Potomac River. The jet was carrying 60 passengers and four crew members.

Israel has suspended the release of Palestinian prisoners "until further notice", army radio reported Thursday, right in the middle of the third exchange for hostages of the Gaza ceasefire.

"The political echelon announced the suspension of the operation to release the terrorists until further notice," the radio said citing a security source, after eight hostages released in Gaza were back on Israeli soil.

An Israeli drone raided Thursday an engineering vehicle in the town of Yarin in south Lebanon, local media reports said, as Israeli soldiers fired machineguns at the southern town of Markaba.

Two civilians were later lightly wounded on the outskirts of Tallousa near Markaba, as a drone struck near their motorbike.

Congo's leader called on young people to massively enlist in the army to help fight Rwanda-backed rebels who were attempting to seize more territory in the country's east as a crucial meeting of neighbors asked the Congolese government to talk with the rebels. Rwanda's leader also threatened to "deal" with any confrontation from South Africa regarding the conflict.

In his first public remarks since the M23 rebels advanced into eastern Congo's largest city, Goma, on Monday, President Félix Tshisekedi late Wednesday vowed "a vigorous and coordinated response" to push back the rebels while reaffirming his commitment to a peaceful resolution. "Enlist massively in the army because you are the spearhead of our country," he urged young people.

Former German Chancellor Angela Merkel on Thursday issued rare public criticism of her successor as the country's center-right leader, the front-runner in Germany's election next month, for putting to parliament proposals for tough new migration rules that only passed with the help of a far-right party.

Germany's center-left governing parties have cast doubt on whether conservative leader Friedrich Merz can still be trusted not to bring the far-right Alternative for Germany, or AfD, into government after Wednesday's events.

Militants in the Gaza Strip released eight hostages on Thursday, handing them over to the Red Cross amid chaotic crowds as part of a swap that is set to see 110 Palestinians released from Israeli prisons later in the day.

Agam Berger, a 20-year-old soldier, was handed over first at a site in the heavily destroyed urban refugee camp of Jabaliya in northern Gaza, followed hours later by two more Israelis and five Thai farm workers who were handed over amid a chaotic crowd in the city of Khan Younis.

Israel's defense minister indicated Wednesday that the military plans to keep soldiers in the flashpoint city of Jenin for the foreseeable future, as Israeli forces have focused on a major crackdown in the northern West Bank during the ceasefire in Gaza.

Israel Katz pledged that the urban refugee camp in Jenin — long a bastion for Palestinian militancy — “will not return to what it was.”