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 of Suriname who was a fugitive from justice for the murder of political opponents four decades ago, has died at age 79, the government said Wednesday.

The United States and Europe on Wednesday warned against any blockade of decision-making bodies in Bosnia's Serb Republic, in protest at the trial of its leader Milorad Dodik.

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 Ukrainian strike on Wednesday killed four people and injured five in the Russian town of Lgov in the Kursk region flanking Ukraine, the regional governor said.

Hundreds of students protested on Wednesday in Serbia's capital Belgrade demanding that the authorities take responsibility for the collapse of a train station roof that killed 15 people last month.

Pope Francis on Wednesday called for easier access to humanitarian aid in Sudan, ravaged by 20 months of brutal civil war where millions are under the threat of famine.

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.