Biden called families of 3 Americans held by Taliban to tell them he hasn't reached deal to free them
CBSN
In a roughly 30-minute phone call Sunday afternoon, President Biden delivered difficult news to the families of three Americans held by the Taliban. He did not have a deal with the Taliban to free their loved ones from captivity, despite what U.S. officials described to CBS News as a significant offer the U.S. had extended in Doha days earlier. The U.S. considers Ryan Corbett and George Glezmann to be wrongfully detained by the Taliban, and describes Mahmood Habibi, who holds dual American and Afghan citizenship, as "unjustly held" since 2022.
Ahmad Shah Habibi, the brother of Mahmood Habibi, told CBS News that during the conversation, Mr. Biden clarified that he would not agree to the Taliban's demand that the U.S. release Muhammed Rahim al Afghani, a detainee at Guantanamo Bay, unless the Taliban, now the government of Afghanistan, also releases Mahmood. An NSC spokesman declined to respond to a CBS inquiry about that specific claim.
Mahmood Habibi disappeared in Afghanistan in 2022, and the Taliban denied abducting him. In a public notice posted by the FBI in August 2024, the agency said it "believed" that Habibi was taken by Taliban military or security forces and "has not been heard from since his disappearance." The FBI said in its notice that Habibi was working as a contractor for a Kabul-based telecom company when he disappeared.
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has approved sending the director of the Mossad foreign intelligence agency to ceasefire negotiations in Qatar in a sign of progress in talks on the war in Gaza.
The black boxes of the passenger jetliner that crashed in South Korea last month killing 179 people stopped recording about four minutes before the crash, South Korean officials said Saturday.
Tel Aviv — Israeli military strikes killed more than 600 people in the Gaza Strip in the first 10 days of 2025, pushing the death toll over 46,000 since the war began on Oct. 7, 2023, according to the Hamas-run Palestinian territory's health ministry, and one new estimate suggests it could be much higher. Israel launched the war after Hamas carried out its unprecedented terrorist attack, killing some 1,200 people and taking 251 others hostage.
Kano, Nigeria — Authorities in northern Nigeria's largest city have begun evacuating more than 5,000 street children seen as a "security threat" and a growing concern as an economic crisis forces more to fend for themselves. The Hisbah, a regional police force tasked with enforcing Islamic Sharia law, have carried out midnight raids on motor parks, markets and street corners in the regional capital, Kano, since the beginning of the year, evacuating children as they sleep.
France on Thursday charged the founder of an adult website used to commit sexual offences, including by a French man who recruited dozens of strangers to rape his heavily sedated wife, prosecutors said.
Most of the 35,000 online pharmacies around the world are operating illegally and could be selling dangerous or ineffective drugs, according to the U.S. Trade Representative's annual "notorious markets" report.
Berlin — Poland's President Andrzej Duda has called for a special exemption to let Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu attend events in the country marking 80 years since the liberation of the Auschwitz Nazi death camp, without facing the risk of arrest under an International Criminal Court warrant. Poland will host a memorial service eight decades after Allied forces seized the notorious camp from German troops and liberated the surviving prisoners on January 27, 1945.
Ramstein Air Base, Germany — Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy on Thursday said Donald Trump's return to the White House would open "a new chapter" and reiterated a call for Western allies to send troops to help "force Russia to peace." He made the plea as the Biden administration announced what will likely be its last major military aid package for Ukraine — a promise of weapons and other support worth $500 million.
Iran's military forces were four days into extensive drills on Wednesday that many believe are essentially preparations for how the country could react to a U.S., Israeli or combined attack on its nuclear facilities.
Mexico isn't the sole source of fentanyl, its president said Tuesday at a news conference for the country's anti-drug campaign, just weeks after threats from President-elect Donald Trump to impose tariffs over drug trafficking.
Rome — An Italian journalist detained in Iran for three weeks and whose fate became intertwined with that of an Iranian engineer wanted by the United States was freed Wednesday and is heading home, Italian officials announced.
British tennis star Cameron Norrie apologized and avoided disqualification when a racquet he tossed in the air struck a spectator at the ATP Tour tournament in Auckland on Tuesday.
A popular Japanese actor hired to be the wholesome face of a low-alcohol beer has been fired after getting drunk and breaking into his neighbor's home, officials said.
Paris — Jean-Marie Le Pen, the historic leader of France's far-right political movement, died Tuesday at the age of 96, the French news agency AFP said, citing his family. Le Pen, who had been in a care facility for several weeks, died Tuesday "surrounded by his loved ones," the family said in a statement.
Seoul, South Korea — North Korea said Tuesday its latest weapons test was a new hypersonic intermediate-range missile designed to strike remote targets in the Pacific as leader Kim Jong Un vowed to further expand his collection of nuclear-capable weapons to counter rival nations.
Beijing — A strong earthquake killed at least 53 people in Tibet on Tuesday and left many others trapped as dozens of aftershocks shook the region of western China and across the border in Nepal.
Brazilian police have arrested a woman facing charges of triple homicide after several members of her family were poisoned by an arsenic-laced Christmas cake, police said Monday.
The top bidder at a Tokyo fish market said they paid $1.3 million for a tuna on Sunday, the second highest price ever paid at an annual prestigious new year auction.