The White House said on Friday that it applauded the release of three Israelis and five Thai nationals by Hamas."The White House applauds the release of eight additional hostages from Hamas captivity," White House press secretary Karoline Leavitt told reporters. "The president remains committed to the release of all remaining hostages."

A New York doctor was indicted by a grand jury in Louisiana for prescribing an abortion pill that was taken by a teenager there, television station WAFB reported on Friday.Margaret Carpenter was reportedly charged with criminal abortion by means of abortion-inducting drugs, a felony.Carpenter prescribed the drug mifepristone, which caused a medical emergency that terminated the teenager's pregnancy, according to WAFB.

US President Donald Trump said on Friday he would be speaking to Russian President Vladimir Putin and said he thinks they will perhaps do something he described as significant.Trump did not elaborate. He made the comments to reports in the White House's Oval Office. He also said that Washington was having serious discussions with Moscow.

US President Donald Trump told reporters on Friday that Japan's Prime Minister Shigeru Ishiba will visit him next week, and he looks forward to the conversation.

US Secretary of State Marco Rubio discussed "the path forward in Gaza" in a call with Saudi Arabian Foreign Minister Prince Faisal bin Farhan Al-Saud, the State Department said on Friday.

President Donald Trump's administration is planning a pause on most federal government websites, a CBS News reporter said on X, adding the websites are "expected to go dark" at 5 p.m. ET (10 p.m. GMT) on Friday.

A magnitude 5.7 earthquake struck Ecuador on Friday, the German Research Centre for Geosciences (GFZ) said.The quake's depth was 10 kilometres (6.21 miles) below the earth's surface, GFZ said.