WORLD

When Ukraine announced it had re-captured the village of Robotyne, its message to the world was that it had found a way to pierce Russian lines on the southern front.

Benjamin Netanyahu's government had divided Israel with its controversial judicial reforms, but he now presides over a country which is united in its demand for a definitive reprisal against Hamas.

Holed up in a makeshift studio in Sydney's Russian consulate, a pro-Putin activist on the run from Australian police is using the country's upcoming Indigenous rights referendum to push the Kremlin's agenda.

European Union foreign policy chief Josep Borrell is due to arrive in China on Thursday, looking to manage the bloc's "de-risking" strategy with its largest trading partner while laying the foundations for a planned summit this year.

A brood of chickens cluck in the barn as Rebeca Perez collects eggs to sell in her village in western Guatemala -- an endeavor she hopes will keep her from emigrating to the United States as her brothers did, driven by poverty.

To do their work of reporting the news -- a crucial job ahead of Sunday's looming presidential election -- many journalists in Ecuador now don bulletproof vests and helmets.

Argentina's election campaign was marked by heated exchanges Wednesday as the incumbent president pressed charges against frontrunner candidate Javier Milei for dissing the national currency, which subsequently crashed.

Crop production has plummeted in fertile Cuba as aid for farmers from a government grappling with tough sanctions and the worst economic crisis in decades has dried up.

President Joe Biden urged Benjamin Netanyahu on Wednesday to follow the rules of war after the Israeli prime minister vowed to destroy Hamas following the Palestinian militants' brutal attack.

Arab foreign ministers on Wednesday denounced Israel's siege of Gaza following the shock attack by Palestinian militants on Israel, demanding that aid be "immediately" allowed to enter the blockaded enclave.

A Kenyan-led multinational force will hopefully help bring some semblance of stability to Haiti, where gang violence has escalated into a form of "urban guerrilla" warfare, the Caribbean country's police chief tells AFP. The UN Security Council gave the green light this month for the deployment of a thousand-strong support force led by Kenyan police, after a year of repeated calls for help from Haiti.

Ukraine on Wednesday called for greater global support to help demine large swathes of the war-torn country, as more than 30 countries promised nearly 500 million euros ($531 million).

An international team of prosecutors seeking to put Russia's top brass on trial over Ukraine has already gathered "thousands" of pieces of evidence, the head of EU judicial agency Eurojust told AFP on Wednesday.

Niger's post-coup military regime has ordered the United Nations coordinator in the country to leave within 72 hours, blaming "obstacles" by the world body to its international recognition.

The German government slashed its growth forecast Wednesday, predicting Europe's top economy will shrink this year as it battles high inflation, elevated energy prices and a manufacturing slump.

Military supplies have started flowing into Israel, which already receives about $3.8 billion from the U.S. in military aid. The U.S. military support to Israel could be crucial in preventing other major players in the region from getting involved in the war, says Vivek Mishra, a fellow with Observer Research Foundation's Strategic Studies Program.

A potential intervention by Tehran-backed Lebanese Shiite militia Hezbollah and uncertainty over the role played by Iran itself are risk factors that could push the unprecedented conflict between Israel and Hamas into a wider regional war, analysts say.

The outbreak of war between Israel and Hamas risks hardening anti-Israel sentiment in Saudi Arabia, which Washington has spent months trying to coax into a landmark normalisation deal.

India's defense forces will study possible intelligence gaps that the Hamas group may have exploited to carry out last week's attack that caught Israel by surprise.

After finding a solution to its issue in the U.K., Binance is facing another hurdle in its global ambitions.

Twin brothers Osher and Michael Vaknin organised rave parties across Israel, including the one close to the Gaza Strip, where a shock attack by Hamas fighters would leave one of them dead and the other missing.

Binance aided authorities in identifying and deactivating the alleged crypto donation accounts of the Islamic Resistance Movement.

Israel kept pounding Hamas targets in Gaza, where entire districts lay in rubble Wednesday, as its forces found more victims five days after the Islamist militants' onslaught on its southern towns.

China may be pushing the Philippines to respond first as it continues to make dangerous moves in the disputed Second Thomas Shoal, which it says is part of its territorial waters.

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky on Wednesday urged allies to step up weapons supplies, on his first visit to the military alliance headquarters since the start of Russia's all-out war.

A magnitude 6.3 earthquake struck western Afghanistan on Wednesday, claiming at least one life and causing panic among residents already traumatised by a series of tremors that killed around 2,000 people at the weekend.

The last Inuit hunters of Ittoqqortoormiit are a resilient bunch. Quad bikes are stealing a march on dog teams as the ice melts and the Inuit too have been seduced by the beautiful game.

London's Luton Airport has suspended all flights until Wednesday afternoon and asked passengers not to travel there after a "significant fire" caused the partial collapse of a parking structure.

A recent open day at a Japanese military base near Tokyo was a fun family outing but, despite the games and snacks, the army recruitment stand was bereft of visitors.