Angry protests broke out Wednesday in several areas of Syria after a video circulated showing an attack on an Alawite shrine in the country's north, a war monitor and witnesses said.

Hamas and Israel traded accusation on Wednesday over delays in finalising a ceasefire and hostage release deal, after both had reported progress in the latest round of Gaza truce talks.

A special court panel on Wednesday overturned a decision of the election body to deny registration to the largest Serb party in Kosovo to participate in the upcoming national elections.

Desi Bouterse, the former dictator and later elected president of Suriname, who became a fugitive of justice for the killing of political opponents, has died at 79, the government said Wednesday.

Thirty-eight people were killed when an Azerbaijan Airlines plane with 67 on board crashed in Kazakhstan on Wednesday, a senior Kazakh official said.

The health ministry in Hamas-run Gaza said on Wednesday that 23 people had been killed in the Palestinian territory in the past 24 hours, taking the overall war death toll to 45,361.

A Russian court slightly reduced prison sentences Wednesday on a playwright and a theatre director convicted of "justifying terrorism" in a play.

Pope Francis called Wednesday for an end to the war in Ukraine and for talks for a just peace as the country was pummelled by 170 Russian missiles and drones on Christmas morning.

Kazakhstan's emergency situation ministry on Wednesday said 25 people had survived the crash of a passenger jet with 67 people on board in the west of the country.

Pakistan air strikes in an eastern border province of Afghanistan killed 46 people, the Taliban government spokesman told AFP on Wednesday, as the defence ministry vowed retaliation.

An Azerbaijan Airlines passenger jet flying from the capital Baku to Grozny in Russia crashed on Wednesday in western Kazakhstan, the Kazakh transport ministry said on Wednesday.

Yoon banned ...