Start your day informed with AnewZ Morning Brief: here are the top news stories for February 22nd, covering the latest developments you need to know.
1. Gaza ceasefire, hostage swap deal
Hamas military wing Al-Qassam Brigades announced Friday the names of six Israeli captives set to be released on Saturday in the seventh hostage-prisoner exchange of the first phase of the Gaza ceasefire. Israel will free hundreds of Palestinian prisoners in return.
Eliya Cohen, Omer Shem-Tov, Omer Wenkert, Tal Shoham, Avera Mengistu, and Hisham Al-Sayed will be set free, according to spokesperson Abu Obeida.
2. Trump official says Zelenskyy will sign US minerals deal ‘in the very short term’
The White House national security adviser, Mike Waltz, said on Friday that the Ukrainian president, Volodymyr Zelenskyy, was expected to sign a minerals agreement with the United States imminently, as part of broader negotiations to end the war with Russia.
“Here’s the bottom line: President Zelenskyy is going to sign that deal, and you will see that in the very short term,” Waltz said during remarks at the Conservative Political Action Conference (CPAC).
3. German leaders hold final campaign rallies
Conservative opposition leader and chancellor candidate Friedrich Merz will hold his final campaign rally in the southeastern city of Munich while Chancellor Olaf Scholz will meet voters at his final campaign event in Potsdam, near Berlin.
Recent polls show Merz's center-right CDU/CSU alliance leading with 30%, though unable to secure an outright majority in parliament. Analysts expect him to seek a coalition with either the center-left Social Democratic Party (SPD) or the Greens to form a government. Chancellor Scholz's SPD currently stands at 16%, with the Greens at 14%.
The far-right Alternative for Germany (AfD) is positioned to become parliament's second-largest party at 20%. However, the AfD appears unlikely to be part of any coalition government, as all other parties have rejected working with the far-right group.
4. French bill banning headscarves in sports 'exclusivism'
A French bill banning headscarves in sports is exclusivism, a representative organization for youth in sports told Anadolu.
“This law directly targets the exclusion of women who wear a sports headscarf,” said ANESTAPS President Lily Rogier.
The French Senate will debate and vote on a bill to extend the ban on religious symbols, including headscarves, to all sports competitions in France.
The proposed legislation also seeks to prohibit collective prayers in publicly funded sports facilities.
5. Trump fires top US general in unprecedented Pentagon shakeup Trump said in a post on Truth Social that he would nominate former Lieutenant General Dan "Razin" Caine to succeed Brown, breaking with tradition by pulling someone out of retirement for the first time to become the top military officer.
6. Hack attack steals $1.4B from crypto exchange Bybit
A crypto exchange, Bybit, announced Friday that a hack attack related to a cold wallet caused a loss of 401,346 Ethereum ($1.4 billion).
Chief Executive and co-founder Ben Zhou announced on X that the theft is only related to Ethereum cold wallet, "warm wallet and all other cold wallets are fine."
Saudi Arabia’s air defences have intercepted and destroyed a hostile drone over the Riyadh region, according to the Saudi-led coalition fight...
Police were deployed across Paris on Saturday, as a curfew was set to take effect in the Republique and Chât...
A drone strike hit a power station in northern Sudan early Sunday (1 November), sparking a fire and triggering loud explosions, witnesses said....
The U.S. has approved the sale of 500 Patriot PAC-3 missiles to Ukraine in a deal worth an estimated $2.1 billion, but Kyiv could face years of delays before receiving the weapons it urgently needs to defend against intensifying Russian attacks.
Iranian Supreme Leader Ayatollah Khamenei has ordered Iran's armed forces to respond to any threat immediately and without geographical limits in statements posted to social media platforms on Saturday (31 October).
Demonstrators carrying Iranian flags and placards supporting the hijab gathered outside the Azerbaijani Embassy in London.
A Chinese-made AI chip has matched Nvidia’s H200 in tests conducted by its developer, marking a potential breakthrough in China’s efforts to reduce its dependence on foreign technology.
A hacking group linked to North Korea is widely believed to be behind the theft of $6.3 billion from cryptocurrency giant Binance, a cyberattack that experts describe as the largest cryptocurrency heist on record.
Police were deployed across Paris on Saturday, as a curfew was set to take effect in the Republique and Châtelet-Les Halles areas from 11pm Saturday until 6am Sunday (1 November).
A drone strike hit a power station in northern Sudan early Sunday (1 November), sparking a fire and triggering loud explosions, witnesses said.
Gen Z protests swept 34 German cities on Saturday (31 October) over education and living costs. Violence erupted in Frankfurt, where shops were looted and police reported Molotov cocktail attacks.
Iran designated Britain's Royal Navy and Royal Air Force as terrorist organisations on Sunday, (1 November), and classified the country's foreign intelligence agency, MI6, as a hostile group, according to a statement from the Iranian Foreign Ministry.
Thousands protested in Albania's capital, Tirana, on Saturday (31 October), demanding Prime Minister Edi Rama's resignation over perceived corruption allegations and dissatisfaction with the government over a lack of jobs and poor education standards.
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