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Appalachia, which spans from southern New York to northern Mississippi, usually evokes images of white working-class people, as depicted in JD Vance’s 2016 memoir Hillbilly Elegy. But it’s little known to people outside of the region that there’s a robust community of Black organizers who are rewriting the narrative of what it means to be Appalachian.

While just 10% of Appalachia is made up of Black residents, they are disproportionately impacted by resource extraction that has led to adverse effects on the environment, health and access to food. But Black activists in Appalachia such as Staysha Quentrill, a midwife and reproductive justice advocate in West Virginia; the Right Rev Marcia Dinkins, an environmental justice advocate in Ohio; and Femeika Elliott, a foodways practictioner in Tennessee are working to improve the wellbeing and safety of the people in their communities.

In her work as the founder of the Black Appalachian Coalition (Blac), an environmental justice group, Dinkins said she seeks to “dismantle the romanticized whitewashed narrative around Appalachia”.

The White House said on Sunday that it supports Israel's decision to delay releasing 600 Palestinian prisoners who were set to be freed after Hamas released six Israeli captives in exchange on Saturday.

President Donald Trump is prepared to support Israel in "whatever course of action it chooses regarding Hamas," a statement from National Security Council spokesman Brian Hughes said.

Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu on Saturday said the prisoner release would be delayed until Hamas ends its ceremonies while freeing Israeli captives.

Hamas has called the delay a "blatant violation" of the truce and said Netanyahu is engaging in "procrastination and stalling tactics" to undermine the agreement.

Pope Francis was in critical condition on Saturday after he suffered a prolonged asthmatic respiratory crisis while being treated for pneumonia and a complex lung infection, the Vatican said.

The 88-year-old pope, who remains conscious, received “high flows” of oxygen to help him breathe. He also received blood transfusions after tests showed low counts of platelets, which are needed for clotting, the Vatican said in a late update.

Evidence of a successful lobbying campaign by campus security officials emerged in an email written last August by Oliver Curran, the chair of the Association of University Chief Security Officers (Aucso), a professional body with members at more than 140 UK universities.

In the note to Aucso members, obtained by Liberty Investigates and shared with the Guardian, Curran wrote that he had met Universities UK, the body that represents vice-chancellors, after visiting a security conference in New Orleans.

He wrote: “I was extremely interested when I attended the [US campus law enforcement] conference on how they were handling the encampments and what lessons they had learnt.

“One of the first things I did when I returned to the UK was to approach [university vice-chancellors] and asked that they continually provide the UK Aucso members with the support we require. The responses were extremely reassuring.”

Two Palestinian children were shot in the back and killed by Israeli forces in the occupied West Bank.

Ayman Nasser al-Haymouny, 12, was killed in Hebron while 13-year-old Rimas al-Amouri was shot in the Jenin governorate, the Palestinian Ministry of Health and the Wafa news agency confirmed.

Israeli forces opened fire on al-Haymouny and shot him when he was visiting relatives south of Hebron. He was rushed to hospital where he died from his injuries.

The Kurdish-led Syrian Democratic Forces (SDF) and the Syrian Democratic Council (SDC) have agreed to integrate their military forces into the army of the new Syrian government.

The agreement is also believed to involve the Autonomous Administration of North and East Syria, commonly known as "Rojava", which is the civil authority that rules SDF-held areas of Syria.

The fighters are believed to be those affiliated with the Kurdistan Workers Party (PKK), which waged a decades-long insurgency against key Syrian ally Turkey, and which has many forces in neighbouring Iraqi Kurdistan.

The Syrian Democratic Union (PYD), which is the main component force of the SDF, is essentially the Syrian wing of the PKK, meaning that this move will bring an end to fighting between the SDF and Turkish-backed forces that have blighted post-Assad Syria.

The SDF held around 25 percent of Syrian territory, including many of the richest areas in terms of oil, natural gas and minerals, with many of these areas being Arab-majority areas prior to the war and their conquest by the Kurdish force.

There has not yet been any comment from the US, which materially and physically supports the SDF, including the use of several American bases in the areas under their control.

Israel has sparked global outrage after dropping leaflets over the besieged Gaza Strip, warning Palestinians to either cooperate with its forces or face forced displacement or eradication. The messages, written in Arabic, carried explicit threats, including the chilling statement: "The world map will not change if all the people of Gaza cease to exist."

The move, condemned as a psychological warfare tactic, has intensified concerns over Israel’s military campaign in Gaza, with many seeing the leaflets as an open admission of ethnic cleansing.

The threats also reference a so-called "Trump plan", aligning with recent remarks by US President Donald Trump. who suggested the mass expulsion of Gaza's population to neighbouring countries. The posters featured images of Trump and Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, who is facing accusations of war crimes and crimes against humanity and wanted by the IC

The Associated Press sued three Trump administration officials Friday over access to presidential events, citing freedom of speech in asking a federal judge to stop the blocking of its journalists.

The lawsuit was filed Friday afternoon in U.S. District Court in Washington, D.C., 10 days after the White House began restricting access to the news agency.

The AP says its case is about an unconstitutional effort by the White House to control speech — in this case not changing its style from the Gulf of Mexico to the “Gulf of America,” as President Donald Trump did last month with an executive order.

The BBC has pulled its documentary about children in Gaza from iPlayer after mounting pressure over a featured child being the son of a Palestinian minister, in a move some commentators have slammed as "cowardly".

Outrage over Gaza: How To Survive A Warzone reached its highest point on Wednesday and Thursday, with the Israeli ambassador in London complaining to Britain's public broadcaster, and culture secretary Lisa Nandy saying she will "be discussing" the issue with the BBC.

Most criticism has focused on the fact, first reported by researcher David Collier, that the documentary's 13-year-old narrator Abdullah Alyazouri is the son of a minister in Gaza's Hamas-run government.

Middle East Eye found on Thursday that Dr Ayman Alyazouri, Gaza's deputy agriculture minister, appears to be a technocrat with a scientific background who previously worked for the United Arab Emirates government and studied at British universities.

Earlier this week a group of 45 prominent Jewish journalists and members of the media, including former BBC governor Ruth Deech, piled on pressure by sending a letter to the broadcaster demanding the film be removed from the iPlayer.

Two Israelis were arrested overnight into Friday on suspicion of involvement in the explosions that took place on empty buses in two Tel Aviv suburbs.

The two suspects have been transferred to the Shin Bet security agency for interrogation, though a court has issued a gag order on further details of the affair.

On Thursday night, three explosive devices were set off on buses in Bat Yam and an additional device was found before it detonated in the nearby city of Holon. No casualties were reported. The Israeli army announced that three battalions will be transferred to the West Bank as reinforcements.

The office’s “major staff turnover,” as one team Fetterman veteran put it, comes amid a tough hiring environment for Democratic staffers in Washington.

“I don’t find this as a surprise,” said the former Fetterman campaign staffer, who requested anonymity to protect their livelihood. “I think the staff is probably frustrated that working in the Fetterman office means you’re just working on Israel all the time.”

Since the October 7 attack, Fetterman’s office has ignored most of the issues he campaigned on, instead turning almost all his focus toward the Israel–Palestine conflict, according to people familiar with his office. At the same time, Fetterman has added a number of Republican donors to his roster, The Intercept reported.

Since Trump took office last month, Fetterman has become a sometime Republican ally. He was one of 12 Democrats in the Senate to support the GOP’s draconian new immigration law. At times, Fetterman has been Trump’s sole ally across the aisle. He was the only Democrat to vote to confirm Pam Bondi, Trump’s nominee for attorney general who helped spread the lie that Trump won the 2020 presidential election.

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