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US top diplomat Antony Blinken on Wednesday said Mahmud Abbas was committed to reforming the Palestinian Authority to potentially reunite war-torn Gaza and the occupied West Bank under its leadership.

Ecuador's President Daniel Noboa said Wednesday the country was in "a state of war" against drug cartels who have carried out a wave of kidnappings and deadly attacks in response to government crackdown.

The Los Angeles Clippers have signed two-time NBA champion Kawhi Leonard to a new contract extension, the team said on Wednesday.

Pre-election hostilities between the White House and US Congress spiked Wednesday as the surprise appearance of Joe Biden's son -- in Republican crosshairs over his business interests -- triggered pandemonium on Capitol Hill.

Gemma Grainger has left her role in charge of Wales' women to take over as Norway team manager, the Football Association of Wales announced on Tuesday.

Boeing is still in fact-finding mode following Friday's near-catastrophic aviation incident, searching for "what broke down" in its processes, Chief Executive Dave Calhoun said Wednesday.

Formula One outfit Haas on Wednesday parted ways with colourful team principal Guenther Steiner with the struggling American stable appointing Ayao Komatsu in his place.

Attacks by Yemen's Huthi rebels in the Red Sea have caused shipping companies to avoid the Suez Canal -- a key source of revenue for Egypt as it battles a deep economic crisis.

Baltimore Ravens quarterback Lamar Jackson and wide receivers Cee Dee Lamb of Dallas and Tyreek Hill of Miami were among those named Wednesday to the NFL Players Association All-Pro Team.

NATO members Turkey, Bulgaria and Romania will sign this week a preliminary agreement on demining the Black Sea, officials said on Wednesday.

Troy Lesesne, who guided New York Red Bulls into last year's MLS playoffs as an interim coach, was named head coach of DC United on Wednesday, the MLS club announced.

Pre-election hostilities between the White House and US Congress spiked Wednesday as the surprise appearance of Joe Biden's son -- in Republican crosshairs over his business interests -- triggered pandemonium on Capitol Hill, the same day lawmakers launched efforts to impeach the administration's immigration chief.

Global stock markets drifted on Wednesday, the eve of key US inflation data and the start of the latest earnings season.

Hundreds of soldiers patrolled near-deserted streets in Ecuador's capital Wednesday after the government and drug mafias declared war on each other, leaving residents gripped with fear.

A Japanese technology giant is in the crosshairs of British lawmakers for building the faulty accounting software that led to what has been called the country's biggest ever miscarriage of justice.

France's post office is experimenting with opening changing rooms in some branches to cater to online shoppers who want to quickly return purchases that don't fit.

The largest primate ever to walk the Earth went extinct because it could not adapt to its changing environment, with the mighty beast reduced to living off bark and twigs before dying off, scientists said on Wednesday.

The amount of snow that stays on the ground is rapidly dwindling due to human-caused climate change, threatening the water supply of hundreds of millions of people, researchers warned Wednesday.

Swaths of the United States braced for more snow and punishingly low temperatures Wednesday as millions in the east dug out from a previous round of severe winter weather that left at least five people dead.

Barcelona coach Xavi Hernandez said Wednesday he hopes a potential Spanish Super Cup triumph can create an important turning point in his team's season again.

Fresh from its wins at the Golden Globes, Christopher Nolan's "Oppenheimer" on Wednesday topped the nominations for the influential Screen Actors Guild Awards, which are key to Oscars success.

Tanks and soldiers patrol the streets of Ecuador as narcos sow terror nationwide after declaring all-out war on a government trying to rein them in.

The chief organiser of the 2024 Paris Olympics insisted Wednesday there were no plans to move the opening ceremony of the Games from the river Seine amid ongoing speculation about the hugely ambitious water-based show.

Authorities in the Russian border city of Belgorod began evacuating hundreds of children Wednesday after weeks of deadly shelling from Ukrainian forces.

Five-time winner Nasser Al-Attiyah posted his first win of this year's Dakar Rally on Wednesday, clocking the quickest time in the Empty Quarter dunes between Al-Hofuf and Shubaytah in Saudi Arabia.

By appointing Gabriel Attal prime minister, President Emmanuel Macron is betting on the youth and dynamism of the 34-year-old to beat the far-right in European elections but also shape a future after 2027 when he must step aside.

Roberta Wilson-Garrett looked at the glove keeping her right hand steady and smiled.

Nationwide strikes brought German transport to a near standstill Wednesday, with railway workers on a three-day stoppage and farmers on tractors blocking autobahns in a bitter protest over subsidy cuts.

Ukraine's President Volodymyr Zelensky appealed for badly needed air-defence systems at the start of a tour of Baltic states Wednesday, warning that Western hesitation on aid for Ukraine was emboldening Russia.

The youngest son of French film legend Alain Delon, 88, has filed a complaint against his sister accusing her of exploiting his frail health, a prosecutor said on Wednesday, in an escalating family feud drawing in his children.

A Taliban official has said several girls and women were detained recently in Kabul for not covering themselves properly, after reports circulated of a crackdown in the Afghan capital.

The UK government announced Wednesday it will unilaterally quash the wrongful theft convictions of hundreds of self-employed Post Office branch managers targeted due to faulty software, and offer them immediate compensation.