Israeli army finds bodies of 3 hostages in Gaza killed at Oct. 7 music festival

JERUSALEM (AP) — The Israeli military says its troops in Gaza found the bodies of three Israeli hostages killed by Hamas in its Oct. 7 attack, including German-Israeli Shani Louk. A photo of Louk’s twisted body in the back of a pickup truck ricocheted around the world, bringing to light the scale of the Oct. 7 attack on southern Israel. The military on Friday identified the other two bodies found as those of a 28-year-old woman, Amit Buskila, and a 56-year-old man, Itzhak Gelerenter. Military spokesman Rear Adm. Daniel Hagari said all three were killed by Hamas while fleeing the Nova music festival, an outdoor dance party near the Gaza border. The military did not give immediate details on where their bodies were found.

French police fatally shoot a man suspected of setting fire to a synagogue

ROUEN, France (AP) — France’s Interior Minister says that a man who was shot and killed by police after a suspected arson attack on a synagogue in the Normandy city of Rouen was an Algerian national who’d sought medical treatment in France and wasn’t flagged as a suspected extremist. The minister praised the 25-year-old police officer who shot and killed the man. The minister said that he would be decorated for his “extremely courageous, extremely professional” behavior faced with the suspected attacker who rushed at him with a kitchen knife early Friday after the blaze broke out at the synagogue.

Haiti is seeking a new prime minister; dozens of candidates jostle for the key job

PORT-AU-PRINCE, Haiti (AP) — A weeklong search for a new prime minister has flooded the inboxes of a transitional presidential council with dozens of candidates jostling to become Haiti’s next leader. Political parties, business leaders, the diaspora and even religious institutions had until Friday to submit their choice for a position that has remained empty for almost a month. It’s unclear how long it will take the seven members with voting powers within a nine-person council to select a candidate. A previous attempt to choose a new prime minister led to an acrimonious fallout between some council members.

Putin concludes a trip to China by emphasizing its ties to Russia

BEIJING (AP) — Russian President Vladimir Putin is concluding a two-day visit to China by emphasizing the countries’ strategic ties as well as his own personal relationship with Chinese leader Xi Jinping as they seek to present an alternative to U.S. global influence. Putin made a back-handed rebuke for the U.S., and others who oppose the Moscow-Beijing relationship, saying an “emerging multipolar world … is now taking shape before our eyes.” Putin praised their bilateral trade as he toured a China-Russia Expo in the northeastern city of Harbin and met students at the Harbin Institute of Technology, which is said to work closely with the People’s Liberation Army.