US fighter jets have carried out a series of air raids across Yemen, killing at least 31 people after President Donald Trump warned the Houthi group not to attack ships passing through the Red Sea.

The US raids, the most significant military action since Trump’s return to power in January, came after Yemen’s Houthis threatened to resume raids on Israeli-linked ships in the Red Sea over Israel’s blockade on Gaza.

A terrorist from the Islamic State – Khorasan Province (ISIS-K), who was extradited to the United States in the early Wednesday morning hours, confessed to the FBI that he played key roles in the infamous bombing of Abbey Gate at the Kabul, Afghanistan airport that took the lives of soldiers and civilians, according to the U.S. Department of Justice. He also claimed taking part in a deadly attack on a concert hall in Moscow, and a blast targeting Canadian embassy security guards in Kabul.

WASHINGTON — The White House confirmed Wednesday that American officials have engaged in direct talks with Hamas — despite a longtime US policy of not engaging with terrorists.

Press secretary Karoline Leavitt confirmed the contacts at a press briefing — framing it as a way to accomplish American aims in Israel’s 17-month war against the Gaza Strip-based Islamists.

U.S. and Hamas officials have had talks in Qatar about hostages held in the Gaza Strip, according to two Israeli officials, a Western official and a diplomat briefed on the matter, breaking with a longstanding American policy of refusing to directly engage groups that it has designated as terrorists.

The Trump administration on Tuesday re-designated the Houthi militant group in Yemen as a foreign terrorist organization, reversing a decision made by President Joe Biden in 2021, after more than a year of attacks on U.S. Navy and commercial vessels at sea.

Summary

• Car's driver arrested, police say
• Suspect a German man from neighbouring state
• No indications of religious of extremist motivation...

According to the Department of Homeland Security, Afghan nationals arriving through Operation Allies Welcome – such as Nasir Ahmad Tawhedi, who plotted the attack – are only granted humanitarian parole into the United States following required screening and vetting. AllSides highlights content from Gigafact, a network of newsrooms that respond to online claims. View the full fact brief on Oklahoma Watch.

Last week, Turkish authorities detained scores of people for suspected links to the Kurdistan Workers Party (PKK), which is viewed as a terrorist group by Ankara, Brussels, and Washington.

On Feb. 18, Interior Minister Ali Yerlikaya said that almost 300 suspects had been arrested in multiple provinces, including Istanbul and the capital Ankara.

“We are determined to eradicate terrorism in all its forms,” Yerlikaya said in remarks cited by Turkey’s official Anadolu news agency.

Freed hostages Sagui Dekel-Chen, Sasha Troufanov and Iair Horn crossed back into Israel on Saturday morning after being paraded on a stage in southern Gaza in a propaganda-filled release ceremony by the Hamas and Palestinian Islamic Jihad terror groups that held them captive for 498 days.

Hamas-led militants released three male Israeli hostages Saturday and Israeli forces freed hundreds of prisoners in return, in the latest indication that a fragile ceasefire that had teetered in recent days is holding.

Militants in the southern Gaza Strip paraded the three hostages — Iair Horn, 46, a dual citizen of Israel and Argentina; American-Israeli Sagui Dekel Chen, 36; and Russian-Israeli Alexander (Sasha) Troufanov, 29 — before a crowd before releasing them. They were transported to Israel to be reunited with their families and to receive medical evaluation in a hospital.