President Donald Trump doubled down on his criticism of Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky on Wednesday, telling a conference in Florida that the Ukrainian leader done a terrible job and could have come to talks with Russia in Saudi Arabia if he had wanted to.Trump said he hoped for a ceasefire between Russia and Ukraine soon.

Release hostage Iair Horn was discharged from the hospital Thursday evening after completing all necessary medical examinations.Horn was hospitalized last Saturday, following his release from Hamas captivity as part of the hostage-ceasefire deal between Israel and Hamas.

The FBI Houston branch confirmed on Thursday that, following information received yesterday, a mass casualty attack on a local high school was thwarted.The attack was reportedly planned by two teenagers, who have since been arrested.

Red Cross representatives received the slain hostages in Khan Yunis in the southern Gaza Strip on Thursday. After they are transferred to Israeli security forces, the IDF will hold a commemoration ceremony officiated by the head of the Military Rabbinate Brigadier-General, Rabbi Eyal Krim.

South Korea's impeached President Yoon Suk Yeol appeared at a Seoul court on Thursday for the first hearing of his criminal trial over insurrection charges, during which his lawyers demanded his release from jail.TV footage aired by local broadcasters showed justice ministry vehicles leaving the Seoul Detention Centre where Yoon is being held before arriving at the court where lines of police buses were parked outside to ensure security.The court heard a bid by Yoon's lawyers to cancel his detention as they argued that the insurrection probe had been conducted in an illegal manner, and that there was no risk of Yoon trying to destroy evidence.Prosecutors last month indicted Yoon after accusing him of leading an insurrection with his short-lived imposition of martial law on December 3.The charges are unprecedented for a sitting South Korean president, and if convicted, Yoon could face years in prison for his martial law decree, which shocked the country and sought to ban political and parliamentary activity and control the media.

Separatist gunmen shot dead seven passengers on a Lahore-bound bus in southwestern Pakistan's Balochistan province on Tuesday after forcing them off the vehicle and checking their identity documents, officials said.The Baloch Liberation Army (BLA), the biggest of several ethnic armed groups battling the central government, claimed responsibility for the attack, saying the victims were all working for the military and its intelligence wing.Balochistan, bordering Afghanistan and Iran, is a major battleground in Pakistan's fight against separatist insurgents, who want greater autonomy and a share of the region's natural resources.In recent months, there has been a surge in attacks on security forces, Chinese infrastructure projects and workers from richer central Punjab province, whom the militants see as exploiting Baloch resources.The group of around 40 men stopped multiple buses and vehicles along a highway in Balochistan's Barkhan district, checking national identity cards before pulling seven passengers off the bus and shooting them, senior government official Waqar Khurshid Alam told Reuters.