More than 45 nations signed a pledge in Montreal, Canada, on Thursday to repatriate to Ukraine the civilians, prisoners of war and children taken by Russia since it invaded the country in 2022.

Canadian Foreign Affairs Minister Mélanie Joly said at the close of a two-day summit on the human dimension of the war that the countries agreed to coordinate efforts to gather information about Ukrainians held in Russia and to create safe pathways for their return.

Ukrainian Foreign Affairs Minister Andrii Sybiha said nearly 42,000 Ukrainians are missing, and that almost 20,000 children have been deported to Russia. He said 860 Ukrainian children have been returned home to date.

Joly said Thursday’s joint declaration will help co-ordinate existing efforts to locate missing Ukrainians. She said Qatar, South Africa and the Vatican have agreed to act as intermediaries to negotiate the return of prisoners of war, civilians and children. Lithuania and Qatar will act as transit countries for Ukrainians who are released.

Officials did not release a list of the more than 70 countries who sent delegations to Montreal this week, and it was unclear which countries had signed the pledge as of Thursday evening. But several major players were not present, including China, India and Brazil. Mexico and South Africa did attend the conference.

The ICC previously issued arrest warrants for both Russian President Vladimir Putin and his children’s rights commissioner, Maria Lvova-Belova, accusing them of the war crimes of unlawful deportation of children and unlawful transfer of children from occupied areas of Ukraine to Russia. Moscow has rejected the allegations.

Florida officers sued over 2023 beating

A Florida man filed a federal lawsuit Thursday against three Jacksonville sheriff’s officers who severely beat him last year after he ran from a traffic stop, alleging they used excessive force that resulted in permanent injuries to his head, an eye and a kidney.

Le’Keian Woods, who said he still suffers migraines and eye pain, is suing Jacksonville officers Hunter Sullivan, Trey McCullough and former officer Josue Garriga for their roles in the Sept. 29, 2023, beating that drew national attention and local protests for its severity. Sheriff T.K. Waters has defended the beating as justified.

The beating left Woods with a ruptured kidney, a swollen face and bloodied lip. A fourth officer, Beau Daigle, is being sued for pointing his gun at Woods, who is seeking unspecified damages.

Attorneys Harry Daniels and Norman Harris accused the officers of targeting Woods, 25, and the two friends he was with because they are Black.

At a press conference three days after Woods’ arrest, Sheriff Waters, who also is Black, said the body camera videos proved the beating was necessary to keep Woods from harming the officers.

The U.S. Justice Department’s Civil Rights Division cleared the officers, saying their actions “did not rise” to a level where they could be prosecuted under federal law. Daniels said the department didn’t do a proper investigation and the decision will be appealed.

Rapper Young Thug pleads guilty, is released

Rapper Young Thug pleaded guilty Thursday in Atlanta to gang, drug and gun charges and will be released from jail, though he could be put back behind bars if he violates the terms of his sentence.

The 33-year-old Grammy winning artist, whose given name is Jeffery Williams, entered his pleas without reaching a deal with prosecutors after negotiations between the two sides broke down, lead prosecutor Adriane Love said. That left the sentence completely up to Fulton County Superior Court Judge Paige Reese Whitaker.

Young Thug pleaded guilty to one gang charge, three drug charges and two gun charges. He also entered a no contest plea to another gang charge and a racketeering conspiracy charge, meaning that he decided not to contest those charges but can be punished for them as if he had pleaded guilty.

The judge imposed a sentence of 40 years with the first five to be served in prison but commuted to time served, followed by 15 years on probation. If he successfully completes that probation without any violations, another 20 years will be commuted to time served. But if he violates the conditions, he will have to serve those 20 years.

A tremendously successful rapper, Young Thug started his own record label, Young Stoner Life or YSL. Prosecutors have said he also co-founded a violent criminal street gang and that YSL stands for Young Slime Life.

He was charged two years ago in a sprawling indictment accusing him and more than two dozen other people of conspiring to violate Georgia’s anti-racketeering law. He also was charged with gang, drug and gun crimes.

Sex charges refiled against Chasing Horse

A grand jury in Nevada has again indicted Nathan Chasing Horse on charges that he sexually abused Indigenous women and girls for decades, reviving a sweeping criminal case against the former “Dances with Wolves” actor.

The 21-count indictment unsealed Thursday in Clark County District Court, which includes Las Vegas, again charges the 48-year-old with sexual assault, lewdness and kidnapping. It also adds felony charges of producing and possessing child sexual abuse materials.

It comes after the Nevada Supreme Court in September ordered the dismissal of Chasing Horse’s original indictment, while leaving open the possibility for charges to be refiled. The court sided with Chasing Horse, saying in its scathing order that prosecutors had abused the grand jury process.

Clark County District Attorney Steve Wolfson quickly vowed to seek another indictment.

The initial 18-count indictment charged Chasing Horse with more than a dozen felonies. He had pleaded not guilty.

His lawyer, Kristy Holston, had also argued that the case should be dismissed because, the former actor said, the sexual encounters were consensual. One of his accusers was younger than 16, the age of consent in Nevada, when the abuse began, according to the indictment.

Neither Wolfson nor Holston immediately responded Thursday to phone or emailed requests for comment.

Chicago schools leader resigns over posts

The president of the Chicago school board resigned Thursday just a week after he was appointed because of social media posts deemed antisemitic, anti-women and lending credence to a conspiracy theory about the 9/11 terrorist attacks.

The Rev. Mitchell Johnson’s resignation came at the request of Mayor Brandon Johnson.

Mitchell Johnson was appointed president just a week ago. He was among seven board members tabbed earlier this month by Brandon Johnson after former members of board managing the nation’s third-largest school district resigned en masse.

Media reports have turned up social media posts by Mitchell Johnson that showed him agreeing that the 9/11 terror attacks on New York and elsewhere were an “inside job.”

Forty of the city’s 50 alderpersons called on him to step down after a post following the 2023 Hamas attack on Israel that appeared to defend Hamas and added, “My Jewish colleagues appear drunk with the Israeli power and will live to see their payment.” Yet another post appeared to denigrate working women.

U.S. sanctions Mexican cartel members

The U.S. on Thursday imposed sanctions on senior members of the armed wing of a Mexican drug cartel that operates on border territories in and around Chihuahua, Mexico.

Five Mexican citizens and two companies linked to La Linea, a violent Mexico-based drug trafficking organization that smuggles fentanyl and other synthetic drugs into the U.S. on behalf of the transnational Juarez Cartel, were hit with economic sanctions Thursday.

The latest action is meant to stem a major source of fentanyl coming into the U.S; the powerful opioid is the deadliest drugs in the U.S. today. The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention states that drug overdose deaths in the U.S. have increased more than sevenfold from 2015 to 2021, though the agency reported a 3% decline in the number of drug overdose deaths this year.

Over the past two years, Treasury has sanctioned more than 350 people and firms connected to drug trafficking, from cartel leaders to labs and suppliers

Snow falls on Hawaii’s highest peak

Snow fell on Hawaii’s tallest peak this week, briefly turning the mountaintop into a winter wonderland. The summit area of Mauna Kea on the Big Island got about 2 inches of powder.

Hawaii is better known for its warm weather, beaches and rainforests. But it’s not unusual for snow to fall at the higher elevations on Mauna Kea during the wetter, winter months.

The summit is so high — it sits 13,803 feet above sea level — that temperatures there can drop below freezing year-round, creating the potential for snow during any month.

— From news services