AP News Summary at 10:43 a.m. EST

Russia and the US agree to work towards improving ties and ending the Ukraine war in landmark talks

RIYADH, Saudi Arabia (AP) — Russia and the U.S. have agreed to start working towards ending the war in Ukraine and improving their diplomatic and economic ties. That came after talks between the top diplomats from Russia and the U.S. They reflected an extraordinary about-face in U.S. foreign policy under President Donald Trump. In an interview with The Associated Press on Tuesday, U.S. Secretary of State Marco Rubio said that the two sides agreed broadly to pursue three goals: to restore staffing at their respective embassies in Washington and Moscow, to create a high-level team to support Ukraine peace talks, and to explore closer relations and economic cooperation. He stressed that the talks marked the beginning of a conversation, and more work needs to be done down the road.

The Latest: US and Russia agree to restore embassy staffing, create team to negotiate Ukraine peace

Top Russian diplomats met with U.S. officials Tuesday in Saudi Arabia to discuss improving ties and negotiating an end to the war in Ukraine. No Ukrainian officials were present at the meeting. President Volodymyr Zelenskyy said his country won’t accept any outcome from this week’s talks if Kyiv doesn’t take part. European allies have also expressed concerns they are being sidelined.

Hamas says it will free 6 living hostages and hand over four bodies, accelerating Gaza releases

CAIRO (AP) — A top Hamas leader says the militant group will release six living Israeli hostages on Saturday and the bodies of four others on Thursday. The surprise increase in releases is apparently in return for Israel allowing long-requested mobile homes and construction equipment into the Gaza Strip. The six are the last living hostages set to be freed under the ceasefire’s first phase. The sides have yet to negotiate the second and more difficult phase, in which Hamas says it will only release dozens more hostages in exchange for a lasting ceasefire and an Israeli withdrawal.

Villagers in southern Lebanon begin to return home as Israeli army withdraws under ceasefire deal

KFAR KILA, Lebanon (AP) — Israeli forces have withdrawn from border villages in southern Lebanon under a deadline spelled out in a U.S.-brokered ceasefire agreement that ended the latest Israel-Hezbollah war. Lebanese soldiers have moved into the areas from where the Israeli troops pulled out and began clearing roadblocks set up by Israeli forces and checking for unexploded ordnance. The Israeli troops, however, have remained in five strategic overlook points inside Lebanon along the border with Israel — a sore point with Lebanese officials and the militant Hezbollah group. They have maintained that Israel was required to make a full withdrawal by Tuesday.

Delta jet flips upside down on a snowy Toronto runway and all 80 aboard survive

TORONTO (AP) — A Delta Air Lines plane has flipped upon arrival at Toronto’s Pearson Airport and ended up on its roof, injuring 18 people. The airport’s chief executive says all 80 people on board survived and those hurt had relatively minor injuries. The flight from Minneapolis attempted to land on a dry runway at around 2:15 p.m. Monday in Toronto. Wind gusts of up to 40 mph were blowing snow at the time. The cause of the crash remains under investigation. Video from the scene shows the Mitsubishi CRJ-900LR upside down on the snowy tarmac as emergency workers hosed it down. The plane was somewhat obscured by snow from a winter storm that hit Toronto over the weekend.

Attacks by Sudanese RSF paramilitaries leave hundreds dead in White Nile State

CAIRO (AP) — Sudanese officials and rights groups say attacks by the paramilitary Rapid Support Force have killed hundreds of civilians, including infants, in White Nile state. The Sudanese Foreign Ministry put the death toll at 433, while Emergency Lawyers, a rights group tracking violence against civilians, estimated more than 200 people had died over the past three days. The ministry said the paramilitary group targeted civilians within the past few days in villages in the al-Gitaina area after they faced defeat by the Sudanese army. The U.N. says the war in Sudan, which began in April 2023, has killed more than 24,000 people and driven millions from their homes.

Leonard Peltier leaves prison after Biden commuted his sentence in the killing of two FBI agents

SUMTERVILLE, Fla. (AP) — Indigenous activist Leonard Peltier has been released from a high-security Florida prison. Peltier was freed Tuesday morning, nearly a month after then-President Joe Biden commuted his life sentence in the 1975 killings of two FBI agents. He planned to return to North Dakota, where a celebration was planned Wednesday with family and friends. Biden commuted Peltier’s sentence Jan. 20. He noted that Peltier had spent most of his life in prison and was now in ill health. Law enforcement officials including former FBI Director Christopher Wray opposed the commutation.

’Life-threatening cold’ hits parts of US following deadly weekend flooding

BISMARCK, N.D. (AP) — Harsh has cold descended on the nation’s midsection as a polar vortex grips the Rockies and northern Plains. The bitter cold comes on the heels of weekend storms that pummeled the eastern U.S. with floods, killing at least 14 people. The National Weather Service is warning of life-threatening cold as wind chills drop to minus 60 Fahrenheit in parts of North Dakota. Weather forces in the Arctic are combining to push the chilly air that usually stays near the North Pole into the U.S. and Europe. Extreme cold warnings have been issued for an 11-state swath of the U.S. stretching from the Canada border to Oklahoma and central Texas.

Republicans consider cuts and work requirements for Medicaid, jeopardizing care for millions

WASHINGTON (AP) — Republicans are weighing billions of dollars in cuts to Medicaid, jeopardizing health care coverage for some of the 80 million U.S. adults and children enrolled in the safety net program. The increasing number of Americans who signed up for taxpayer-funded health care coverage was lauded by Democrats during the Biden administration. But Republicans during the Trump administration are looking to slash federal spending. The $880 billion Medicaid program is financed mostly by federal taxpayers. The GOP-controlled Congress is eyeing work requirements for Medicaid and considering paying a shrunken, fixed rate to states. Over the next decade, Republican lawmakers could try to siphon billions of dollars from the nearly-free health care coverage offered to the poorest Americans.

Dying to serve: Dozens of recruits have died nationwide while training to become police officers

At least 29 recruits have died during basic training at law enforcement academies nationwide in the last decade. That’s according to an AP investigation based on an extensive review of lists of law enforcement deaths in every state, workplace safety records and news reports. The investigation shows most died of exertion, dehydration, heat stroke and other conditions tied to intense exercise. Many deaths occurred on the first day of physical training. Others came weeks in, sometimes after drills or timed runs on hot days. Experts were surprised by AP’s findings and said many deaths were preventable. No federal agency or outside organization tracks recruit deaths, unlike those of officers. Black men comprised nearly 60% of the deaths, while just 12% of local police forces.