A rare, first-generation Labubu figure has sold for $150,000 in Beijing at an auction held exclusively for the toys that have taken the world by storm.

The 131-centimeter (51-inch) mint green figurine with a gremlin-like appearance, sharp teeth and puckish grin went for 1.08 million yuan ($150,325) at the Yongle International Auction house that normally specializes in selling jewelry and modern art.

“Congratulations to the online buyer on collecting the world’s only such one,” said the auctioneer at an exhibition center in downtown Beijing on Tuesday afternoon.

Labubus are currently the trendiest plush toys on the planet, created by Hong Kong-born illustrator Kasing Lung and retailed by the Chinese toy giant Pop Mart.

In recent months, the bunny-bodied, elf-faced creatures — equal parts grotesque and adorable — have soared in popularity, sparking buying frenzies around the world, and in some cases, brawls among fans outside shops selling them.

Even in China, where Pop Mart is based and most of its toys are made, people are struggling to get their hands on Labubus.

A total of 48 Labubus were auctioned at the special event, billed as the “World’s First” auction of first generation collectible Labubus.

A brown, 160-centimeter (63-inch) Labubu figure, sold for $114,086, the second highest hammer price at the event. The company said only 15 such figures exist around the world.

Other figures went for more than $1,000 each.

“As a trendy toy in China, Labubu is now becoming a global artwork as it has truly sparked a craze around the world,” Zhao Xu, the founder of Yongle Auction, told state-owned outlet The Beijing News.

Zhao said the company plans to hold monthly livestream auctions for Labubu and other trendy artworks.

A pair of Minions-like Labubus sold at auction for 10,000 yuan ($1,391).

Buyers at the auction also had to pay an additional 15% brokerage fee on top of the hammer prices.

And it’s not rare to see a price inflation of Labubus due to the crazy demand in China. For instance, a blind box from the latest Labubu 3.0 series, originally priced at around $81, has been selling for up to $278 on the second-hand market, state-owned outlet Cover News reported.

Labubu’s viral popularity has been a booster for Pop Mart. Annual results show that the Chinese company’s global gross profit surged by over 125% last year, while its revenue in mainland China reached more than $1.09 billion, 34% higher than 2023.

In the heat of the Jamaican sun, where the wetlands glisten and buzz with life, an ancient predator is vanishing.

There are around 28 species of crocodiles found throughout the world’s tropical and subtropical regions. But there is only one species in Jamaica, found primarily along the southern coast from St. Thomas to Westmoreland.

Once revered and feared across the island, the American crocodile (Crocodylus acutus) has long ruled the mangroves and coastal lagoons.

But in recent years, its population has been decimated, due to illegal hunting, habitat loss and plastic pollution, as well as killings prompted by a lingering fear among locals.

Lawrence Henriques has made it his life’s mission to change that.

Known as “The Crocodile Guardian,” Henriques has spent the past four decades fighting for their survival.

He runs the Holland Bay Crocodile Sanctuary, a grassroots conservation project in the southeast of the island, perched on the edge of what he says is one of Jamaica’s last viable crocodile habitats.

From this remote corner of the island, he’s trying to undo years of damage: nursing sick crocs back to health, raising juveniles and restoring their numbers in the wild.

“There’s a real fear of crocodiles in Jamaica,” says Henriques. “They’re not tolerated by a lot of people. So if one turns up in someone’s backyard, it’s often killed for meat or just because people are afraid.”

Although crocodiles are often seen as aggressive and dangerous, attacks are few and far between. While reliable figures are hard to come by, according to the global database CrocAttack, there have been 11 incidents reported over the past decade in Jamaica, including one fatality in 2018.

That’s why Henriques is working to change the narrative about the animal and help people understand that they are far less threatening than their reputation suggests.

Born and raised in the Jamaican capital, Kingston, during the 1960s, Henriques always had a penchant for “creepy crawlies,” such as spiders, scorpions and snakes.

But it was crocodiles that truly captured his attention.

“We had a lot more crocodiles and a lot more habitat in those days,” he recalls. “I always had a half a dozen or so baby crocodiles rearing in my bedroom.”

That fascination eventually became a vocation. After studying overseas and learning more about reptiles when working with the Scientific Exploration Society, a UK charity, in Belize, Henriques returned to Jamaica in 1980. He was startled to find that despite crocodiles being classified as endangered in 1971 under the Wildlife Protection Act, there was little practical conservation happening.

“The laws were there, but nobody was doing anything,” he says. “The environmental agency was very under-resourced and still is to this day. And there was nobody really with expertise or knowledge on reptiles.”

A sanctuary on the edge

Henriques volunteered to assist the Jamaican government, carrying out crocodile rescues and providing rehabilitation, all while holding down a job in the citrus industry.

He continued like this for almost 20 years, before a brief relocation to London, UK. When he returned to Jamaica in 2010, he launched what would become the Holland Bay Crocodile Sanctuary — a facility dedicated to rescue, rehabilitation and public education.

The sanctuary, which lies on the edge of a wetland, is home to 27 adult crocodiles along with 18 baby crocs. The juvenile crocs have been bred on site and are typically released into the wild after three years, while the adults have been rescued and rehabilitated after being hit by cars, caught in traps, or found living in squalid conditions. Over the past three years, around 90 have been successfully released back into the wild according to Henriques.

One of the crocodiles living at the sanctuary currently is Xena, who was discovered guarding her eggs in an area littered with trash, her skin slimy and her teeth gray from pollution.

Savannah Boan, an international ambassador from Gatorland Global, the conservation arm of the Florida-based wildlife park which helps to fund the sanctuary, says that since being relocated, Xena’s skin has healed and her teeth are white again. Her babies have also been raised at the facility and released into safe areas, helping to boost wild populations of the species.

Black market

Despite legal protections, crocodiles in Jamaica face growing threats. Poaching is rampant, often driven by demand for meat or misguided fear, according to officers from the country’s National Environment and Planning Agency (NEPA).

“Poaching is definitely a huge problem,” says Leighton Mamdeen, an environmental officer at NEPA. “We try to limit it through enforcement measures such as regular monitoring and we partner with the Jamaica Constabulary Force and the Jamaica Defence Force to do patrols.”

According to media reports, there is a thriving black market for crocodile meat and eggs in Jamaica, with the meat sold for as much as 5,000 Jamaican dollars ($31) a pound (450 grams) – more than 10 times the price of chicken meat.

This could stem from a widespread misconception in some rural communities that crocodile meat has aphrodisiac properties.

Damany Calder, another environmental officer at NEPA, says he has noticed a troubling pattern during callouts, when crocodiles are discovered with their tails removed.

“There’s a rumour about the crocodile tail… it’s (used) either for sexual performance, fertility or longevity,” he says.

In other cases, crocodiles have been found in backyard ponds, kept as pets, or used as props for TikTok stunts or music videos. There was even a time when a small live crocodile was found stuffed in a broken fridge, says Calder. He believes it may have been part of a ritual referred to as Obeah, a Jamaican religious tradition similar to voodoo.

Social media videos have occasionally resulted in prosecutions but only if culprits are caught in the act, Calder says. Individuals found guilty of killing crocodiles may be charged a maximum fine of $100,000 or face one-year imprisonment.

“The police are heavily involved, and they’re trying to improve the penalties,” says Henriques.

“But like everything else, it’s catching the person and proving it in court. It’s a very long, drawn-out process.”

Habitat erased

Development is another killer.

Jamaica’s mangroves and wetlands are currently being cleared for tourism and residential development according to The Forestry Department. This affects the country’s coastal resilience, as mangroves reduce wave energy and storm surges, helping to prevent flooding, and it damages biodiversity, as they are serve as nurseries for fish and provide essential habitat for species like crocodiles.

As this territory shrinks, crocodiles are forced closer to humans.

“These animals are ending up in places they’ve always lived,” Henriques says. “But now those places are towns and roads … We’ve taken their habitat.”

To Henriques, the crocodile isn’t a menace — it’s a keystone species that has been on the island for millions of years. It even features on the Jamaican coat of arms, which shows a crocodile perched atop a royal helmet and mantling, designed to symbolize the island’s unique wildlife and natural heritage.

“They’re like engineers of the ecosystem,” he says. “They dig channels, control fish populations and keep the wetlands healthy.”

He explains that the presence of these apex predators helps to regulate biodiversity within aquatic ecosystems by controlling prey populations and creating microhabitats that support various flora and fauna.

But Henriques warns that because of poaching and habitat loss, the island no longer has many large male crocodiles left along the coastline: “Most now are smaller. It’s a serious shift.”

“What’s happening in Jamaica reflects a global pattern — wetland species are disappearing, and with them, the health of the entire ecosystem,” he adds.

Changing minds, one school at a time

Despite the challenges, there’s a cautious sense of hope.

Henriques and NEPA have ramped up community outreach and education programs, especially in areas near crocodile habitats.

“One of the most impactful things we’ve done is visit schools,” says Mamdeen. “If you start with the kids, you’ll have a greater chance of securing the animal’s future.”

When reports of a crocodile in a pool of water near a school caused panic among parents and children, NEPA directed its outreach efforts toward local students.

“We told them: crocodiles would rather run (from you) than rush (towards) you,” he says. “If you’re near water at night, walk with a stick. If the animal is touched, it moves.”

Henriques added: “People are beginning to understand these animals have a place … They’re not pests. They’re survivors.”

Still, the sanctuary is one of only a few conservation efforts on the island, and without continued support, Henriques fears Jamaica’s crocodiles may not survive the next few decades.

“We can’t afford to lose them,” he says. “They’ve been here longer than we have. They’re part of this land.”

Frederick Forsyth, the British author of “The Day of the Jackal” and other bestselling thrillers, has died after a brief illness, his literary agent said Monday. He was 86.

Jonathan Lloyd, his agent, said Forsyth died at home early Monday surrounded by his family.

“We mourn the passing of one of the world’s greatest thriller writers,” Lloyd said.

Born in Kent, in southern England, in 1938, Forsyth served as a Royal Air Force pilot before becoming a foreign correspondent. He covered the attempted assassination of French President Charles de Gaulle in 1962, which provided inspiration for “The Day of the Jackal,” his bestselling political thriller about a professional assassin.

Published in 1971, the book propelled him into global fame. It was made into a film in 1973 starring Edward Fox as the Jackal and more recently a television series starring Eddie Redmayne and Lashana Lynch.

In 2015, Forsyth told the BBC that he had also worked for the British intelligence agency MI6 for many years, starting from when he covered a civil war in Nigeria in the 1960s.

Although Forsyth said he did other jobs for the agency, he said he was not paid for his services and “it was hard to say no” to officials seeking information.

“The zeitgeist was different,” he told the BBC. “The Cold War was very much on.”

He wrote more than 25 books including “The Afghan,” “The Kill List,” “The Dogs of War” and “The Fist of God” that have sold over 75 million copies, Lloyd said.

His publisher, Bill Scott-Kerr, said that “Revenge of Odessa,” a sequel to the 1974 book “The Odessa File” that Forsyth worked on with fellow thriller author Tony Kent, will be published in August.

“Still read by millions across the world, Freddie’s thrillers define the genre and are still the benchmark to which contemporary writers aspire,” Scott-Kerr said.

A shooter opened fire at a high school in the Austrian city of Graz, authorities said Tuesday, killing eight people including teenagers.

Officers first responded to the reports of “several” suspected gunshots at the Bundesoberstufenrealgymnasium Dreierschützengasse school in the northwest of the city at around 10 a.m. local time (4 a.m. ET).

Several vehicles and a police helicopter were deployed to the site. The school was evacuated and the area was secured, with no further danger expected, the police said on social media.

Gun violence is rare in Austria, along with most central European countries. The country’s rate of firearm homicides was just 0.1 per 100,000 people in 2021, according to the Institute for Health Metrics and Evaluation, compared to 4.5 per 100,000 people in the United States.

But a small number of high-profile violent incidents have taken place there in recent years. Last October, the mayor of a northern Austrian town was shot dead, along with another victim.

In February, a 23-year-old man stabbed five passersby in southern Austria in what police said was a random attack.

This is a developing story and will be updated.

Acclaimed Ukrainian opera singer Vladislav Horay has been killed while on a volunteer mission to the Sumy region, where a frontline battle for territory continues.

Horay was a soloist with the Odesa National Opera, which said in a statement that he was a “world-class tenor” and “Honored Artist of Ukraine,” whose voice was known around the globe.

“Tragic news has shaken the entire artistic community of Ukraine,” the opera house said in a post on Facebook on Sunday. “(Horay) was not only a talented performer — he was an example of strength, dignity, and kindness in life.”

The post did not say how Horay died.

According to a June 5 post on Horay’s Facebook, he was raising money for a Ukrainian naval unit.

Horay joined the Odesa National Academic Theater of Opera and Ballet in 1993 and performed in the USA, Britain, Canada and many other countries, according to its website. He also toured Britain and performed at London’s Royal Albert Hall.

His last performance was just a day before he died, according to the Odesa opera house, which uploaded a video of Horay singing the Neapolitan song “O Sole Mio.”

“Today, we share this video with you. It is not just a performance. It is farewell. It is the last concert. It is the last gift from a singer who lived for the stage and left a piece of his soul there.”

The northeast Sumy region where the Opera house said Horay was killed, has been a fierce battleground in the Russia-Ukraine war. The Opera said he was there on a volunteer mission, but did not elaborate.

Russian forces have in recent weeks made incremental progress advancing towards the capital of the region, also called Sumy.

While capturing the region’s capital is likely beyond what Moscow is setting out to do, the move underlines the pressure Kyiv is under, from the northern border to the Black Sea.

Israel’s blockade of Gaza may have been partially lifted – and a new US-backed plan to deliver aid has begun. But there are multiple indications that the plight of Gazans is rapidly worsening.

Restrictions imposed by the Israeli military on aid routes, ongoing airstrikes, a lack of security and the continuous displacement of tens of thousands of people are aggravating an already alarming situation, according to the UN and other aid agencies. The supplies that do get in risk getting looted.

“People in Gaza are starving. This demands the urgent opening of all crossings and allowing unimpeded access for humanitarian organizations to deliver aid at scale, through multiple routes,” the UN Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA) said in its latest assessment.

The number of children in Gaza with acute malnutrition is rising, the UN reported Saturday, while a lack of fuel threatens to close hospitals that are still operating.

The Israeli agency handling the inspection of aid going into Gaza, the Coordinator of Government Activities in the Territories (COGAT), said Saturday that 350 trucks containing humanitarian aid had entered the Gaza Strip through the Kerem Shalom crossing in the last week – less than 20 per cent of the volume of goods getting into Gaza before the conflict.

And even the aid that gets in frequently does not make it to the most desperate. UN agencies report continuing difficulties with getting distribution routes within Gaza agreed with the Israeli military. OCHA said that out of 16 truckloads ready for distribution last Thursday, five were rejected, including fuel and water, and six failed to reach their destination.

Additionally, the looting of aid convoys in Gaza has risen sharply in recent weeks.

“Operations have faced unprecedented levels of insecurity and a very high risk of looting, with partners reporting that most looting incidents are conducted by desperate civilians,” according to OCHA.

Nahed Shehaibar, head of the Private Transport Association in Gaza, said on Saturday that transport of aid had been suspended “for the third consecutive day due to repeated attacks on trucks, including gunfire that has damaged and put several trucks out of service.”

Last week the association reported that one driver was killed and another injured while trying to deliver aid, but Shehaibar said on Sunday that 11 trucks of commercial goods had reached merchants in Deir al-Balah in central Gaza successfully.

On Sunday, GHF said it operated three distribution sites – two in southern Gaza and one in central Gaza – to hand out more than 17,000 boxes of food. In addition, GHF said in its daily update that it gave more than 10,000 meals to community leaders north of Rafah in what the organization called a pilot test of “direct-to-community distribution.”

But many people who went to the Netzarim site in central Gaza left empty-handed.

Nader Musleh, who had walked from Al-Mawasi several kilometers away, agreed.

“Some people took five or 10 boxes, and there’s no organization at all,” he said.

Mohammad Abu Akouz was one of several civilians who alleged that some people were injured after coming under Israeli tank fire as they made their way to the site.

GHF said it had been unable to open its sites on Saturday, accusing Hamas of making threats against its operations, including against drivers and Palestinian workers. It said the threats had made it impossible to proceed without putting innocent lives at risk.

The drivers had been scheduled to move 180 employees to the three distribution sites, he added.

GHF said on Friday that it had distributed more than 140,000 boxes of food, with each box intended to feed a family for half a week. The boxes contain pasta, lentils and cooking oil, among other products. GHF says its goal is to distribute boxes containing enough food for 4.5 million meals each day.

After last week’s shootings, GHF appealed to people not to arrive at distribution points “before the official opening time or gather near the gates ahead of schedule. This is for your safety and the safety of others.”

The Israel Defense Forces (IDF) said Saturday in a post on X that gathering outside distribution centers outside of announced hours was “strictly prohibited,” and warned that the areas around the aid hubs were closed military zones between 6 p.m. (11 a.m. ET) and 6 a.m. (11 p.m. ET).

The UN says that the use of the Israeli and American-backed GHF has militarized aid distribution and is inadequate for the huge task of feeding families in Gaza. GHF has no presence in northern Gaza.

In its latest assessment, OCHA said that 90 per cent of families in Gaza lack the cash needed to buy what little food remains available in markets. “Meat, dairy, vegetables and fruit are nearly absent from people’s diets,” it said.

Half of the community kitchens in Gaza have been forced to stop cooking due to lack of supplies or displacement orders, according to OCHA.

The UN Relief and Works Agency (UNRWA) – the main agency for supplying aid in Gaza – said Saturday that a nutrition study had found that the percentage of children under 5 suffering from acute malnutrition had risen from 4.7% in the first half of May to 5.8% in the second half of the month.

UNRWA said the number of children forced to fend for themselves had pushed an increasing number into “dangerous survival strategies. Children are reported working on the streets, participating in looting or gathering within large crowds in search of food supplies at insecure distribution points.”

It’s not just food that is running chronically short.

He added that “a large number of the wounded cannot be treated due to the lack of blood supplies and medical equipment,” and medical staff faced difficult choices about which patients to save.

The Palestinian Ministry of Health said Sunday that Al-Shifa Hospital and the Baptist Ahli Hospital, both in northern Gaza, were at risk of shutting down service within 24 hours. It said that would mean the collapse of what remains of the healthcare system in Gaza City.

In the south, the Health Ministry said the Nasser Medical Complex was operating on a limited fuel supply that will last no more than two days.

Ukraine sent dozens of its own citizens to Russia last month, releasing them from prisons in an attempt to secure the release of dozens of Ukrainian civilians held illegally in Russian jails – a move described by human rights activists as desperate and worrying.

According to the Ukrainian government, 70 Ukrainian civilians convicted of collaborating with Russia were released as part of the 1,000 for 1,000 prisoner exchange between Kyiv and Moscow last month.

Ukraine said all of them went into exile voluntarily, as part of a government scheme that gives anyone convicted of collaborating with Russia the option of being sent there.

But human rights groups and international lawyers say the scheme is problematic, contradicts previous statements made by the Ukrainian government, and could potentially put more people at risk of being snatched by the Russians.

“I completely understand the sentiment, we all want the people (who are detained in Russia) to be released as quickly as possible and Russia has no will to do that… but the solution that is offered is definitely not the right one,” said Onysiia Syniuk, a legal analyst at Zmina, a Ukrainian human rights group.

The program, called “I want to go to my own,” was launched last year by Ukraine’s Coordination Headquarters for the Treatment of Prisoners of War, the Ministry of Defense, the Security Service and the parliament’s Commissioner for Human Rights.

A government website outlining the program includes photos and personal information of some of the 300 Ukrainian people that the government says have signed up to the program.

The profiles of 31 of them are stamped with a picture of a suitcase and the words “HAS LEFT,” with a note saying he or she “left for Russia while at the same time real Ukrainians returned home.”

Bargaining chips

According to Kyiv, at least 16,000 Ukrainian civilians are known to be detained in Russia, although the real number is likely to be much higher. Some 37,000 Ukrainians, including civilians, children and members of the military, are officially recognized as missing.

Many have been detained in occupied territories, detained for months or even years without any charges or trial, and deported to Russia. They include activists, journalists, priests, politicians and community leaders as well as people who appear to have been snatched by Russian troops at random at checkpoints and other places in occupied Ukraine.

The detention of civilians by an occupying power is illegal under international laws of conflict, except for in a few narrowly defined situations and with strict time limits.

Because of that, there is no established legal framework for the treatment and exchange of civilian detainees in the same way there is for prisoners of war.

Russia has, in some cases, claimed that the Ukrainian civilians it is holding are prisoners of war and should be recognized as such by Ukraine. Kyiv has been reluctant to do so because it could put civilians living in occupied areas of Ukraine at risk of being arbitrarily detained by Russia as it seeks to grow its pool for future exchanges.

Kyiv has rallied its allies to increase pressure on Russia over the issue and tried to get Moscow to agree to release the detained civilians through third countries, similar to the way some Ukrainian children have been returned with the help of Qatar, South Africa and the Vatican.

Several international organizations, including the United Nations and the Organization for Security and Co-operation in Europe (OSCE), have also repeatedly called on Moscow to unconditionally release its civilian detainees.

Russia has ignored the pleas.

The “I want to go to my own” program is an attempt by Kyiv to get some of the detained civilians back without having to recognize them as prisoners of war.

But human rights groups are urging the Ukrainian government to continue to press for unconditional release of civilians. “Under international humanitarian law, it is not possible to talk about exchanging civilians. All civilians unlawfully detained must be released unconditionally,” said Yulia Gorbunova, a senior researcher on Ukraine at Human Rights Watch (HRW).

Announcing the 1,000 for 1,000 exchange, Ukraine’s President Volodymyr Zelensky hinted as much.

“I would like to thank our law enforcement officers today for adding Russian saboteurs and collaborators to the exchange fund,” the president said, while also thanking Ukrainian soldiers for capturing Russian troops on the front lines.

‘Political prisoners’

But it seems that the scheme did not yield the results Kyiv was hoping for.

The headquarters said the returnees included a group of at least 60 Ukrainian civilians who were convicted of criminal offenses unrelated to the war.

After completing their sentences, Russian authorities were supposed to deport these prisoners from the occupied territories back to Ukraine. Instead, it kept them, unlawfully, in detention centers normally used for illegal immigrants and only released them as part of the 1,000 for 1,000 prisoner swap.

The RussianHuman Rights Commissioner Tatyana Moskalkova described the convicted Ukrainian collaborators sent to Russia as “political prisoners,” but did not give any more details on who they were or what would happen to them next.

The “I want to go to my own” website gives details of some those sent to Russia in the prisoner exchange, including the offenses they were convicted of. Many were serving years-long sentences for collaboration with Moscow. Some were convicted of supporting the invasion or sharing information with Russian troops. Most received sentences of between five and eight years in prison.

But human rights lawyers say the Ukrainian collaboration law under which these people were sentenced is itself problematic.

HRW has previously issued an extensive report criticizing the anti-collaboration law, calling it flawed.

Gorbunova said the group analyzed close to 2,000 verdicts and that while there were genuine collaborators among them, a lot of them were “people who, under international humanitarian law, should not have been prosecuted.”

She said these included cases where there’s been “little or no harm done” and or where there was no intent to harm national security. Some of the cases involve people who had been working in public service in areas that were then occupied and who had simply continued doing their jobs.

“Helping people on the streets, people who are sick or have disabilities, distributing humanitarian aid. Teachers, firefighters, municipal workers who collect trash, that type of thing – they could be convicted of working for the occupation as collaborators,” she said.

“That is not to say that there are no actual collaborators who commit crimes against national security…who should be punished, (but) this legislation is so vague that essentially a very wide range of activities of people living and working under occupation could qualify as collaboration, which is troubling and problematic,” she said.

While the initiative’s website includes what it says are handwritten notes from each of the convicted collaborators indicating their wish to leave for Russia, human rights organizations say the way in which they have been disowned by their country is ethically dubious.

Colombian senator Miguel Uribe, in the running to join next year’s presidential race, has been shot at an event in Bogota, according to national police.

The mayor of Bogota, Carlos Galán, said Uribe was receiving emergency care after being attacked in the Fontibon district on Saturday and that the “entire hospital network” of the Colombian capital was on alert in case he needed to be transferred.

The mayor added that the suspected attacker had been arrested.

Colombian President Gustavo Petro expressed his solidarity with the senator’s family in a tweet on X, saying, “I don’t know how to ease your pain. It is the pain of a mother lost, and of a wounded homeland.”

Colombia’s government has issued a statement condemning the attack on Uribe.

This is a developing story and will be updated.

The body of a Thai hostage, Nattapong Pinta, who was abducted alive during the October 7 attacks was recovered from southern Gaza in a military operation on Friday, according to a statement from the Israeli military and the Shin Bet security service.

The announcement comes just days after Israel recovered the bodies of two Israeli-American hostages from Gaza.

Pinta, 35, was taken from Kibbutz Nir Oz in southern Israel where he had been working in agriculture, according to an Israeli military official, who said it is estimated that he was killed during the first months of captivity. Pinta was a husband and father working in Israel to support his family in Thailand, the official said.

“We will not rest until all the hostages, living and deceased, are returned home,” Defense Minister Israel Katz said in a statement.

Pinta was abducted by the Mujahideen, the Israel Defense Forces (IDF) said, a militant group that took part in the Hamas-led October 7 terror attack on Israel. The IDF said it is the same organization that kidnapped the Bibas family and killed Shiri, Ariel, and Kfir Bibas, the mother and two young sons who became the most prominent among Hamas’ captives.

Earlier this week, Israel announced that the bodies of Judy Winston-Haggai, 70, and Gadi Haggai, 72, were recovered from southern Gaza. The two were also taken from Kibbutz Nir Oz. The couple had four children and seven grandchildren.

The retrieval of Pinta’s body comes with an intense Israeli operation underway in Gaza, with the Civil Defense reporting at least 38 people were killed in Israeli attacks on Friday.

The IDF said four soldiers were killed and five wounded early Friday morning when an explosive was detonated in a building in Khan Younis in which they were operating, causing part of the structure to collapse.

A total of 55 hostages remain in Gaza, including one taken in 2014. Twenty are believed to still be alive.

Of the 251 people taken hostage by Hamas militants on October 7, many were migrant workers from poor rural parts of Asia, who had gone to work in Israel’s agricultural, construction and health care sectors to send money back home.

Russia bombarded Ukraine’s second-largest city with massive strikes in the early hours of Saturday, its mayor said, one night after Moscow carried out one of the war’s largest aerial assaults on Ukraine.

Russia has conducted extensive attacks on Ukraine in recent days, in what is being viewed as retaliation for an audacious drone operation by Kyiv that debilitated more than a third of Moscow’s strategic cruise missile carriers.

The northeastern city of Kharkiv – which sits about 30 kilometers (19 miles) from the Russian border – was shaken by “at least 40 explosions” on Saturday, killing at least two people and wounding more than a dozen, according to a Telegram post by Mayor Igor Terekhov.

“Kharkiv is currently experiencing the most powerful attack since the start of the full-scale war,” Terekhov said. “The enemy is striking simultaneously with missiles, (drones) and guided aerial bombs. This is outright terror against peaceful Kharkiv.”

Video released by emergency services showed a large fire burning in a multi-story apartment block in the Osnovyanskyi district in the city’s southwest, where Terekhov said two people had died.

One person was also killed in a strike that hit a house in the Kyivskyi district to the north, he said.

A day earlier, in the apparent retaliation to Ukraine’s drone swarm, Russia launched a barrage of drones and ballistic missiles across broad swaths of Ukraine, killing at least six people and injuring dozens of others.

“They gave Putin a reason to go in and bomb the hell out of them last night,” US President Donald Trump told reporters aboard Air Force One late on Friday.

Trump had earlier warned Russian retaliation was imminent, after speaking with his Russian counterpart Vladimir Putin on Wednesday.

It was not immediately clear if Putin intends to further escalate Moscow’s retaliation.

Trump is eager to bring an end to the three-year war, but has been reluctant to impose new sanctions on Russia while the US pushes the warring nations to strike a ceasefire deal.

On Friday, he said he will use further sanctions against Russia “if necessary.”

“If I think Russia will not be making a deal or stopping the bloodshed… I’ll use it if it’s necessary,” he told reporters.

Officials from Russia and Ukraine met in Istanbul on Monday for a second round of peace talks, but the meeting lasted barely over an hour and the only real outcome was an agreement to work towards another prisoner swap.