Russian air defenses shot down 31 Ukrainian drones during a concerted nighttime attack by Kyiv's forces on border regions, the Russian Defense Ministry said Wednesday, as uncertainty grew over Ukraine's future access to weapons and ammunition from its Western allies.

The drone attack appeared to be Kyiv's largest single cross-border drone assault reported by Moscow since it launched its invasion 20 months ago. There were no immediate reports of any damage or casualties.

Three scientists in the United States won the Nobel Prize in chemistry Wednesday for their work on quantum dots — particles just a few atoms in diameter that can release very bright colored light and whose applications in everyday life include electronics and medical imaging.

Moungi Bawendi, of MIT; Louis Brus, of Columbia University; and Alexei Ekimov, of Nanocrystals Technology Inc., were honored for their work with the tiny particles that "have unique properties and now spread their light from television screens and LED lamps," according to the Royal Swedish Academy of Sciences, which announced the award in Stockholm.

Neymar has scored his first goal in his fifth appearance for Al-Hilal as the Saudi Arabian club beat Nassaji Mazandaran 3-0 in Tehran on a calmer day in the Asian Champions League.

Just 24 hours after another Saudi team, Al-Ittihad, left Iran without taking the field against Sepahan, four-time continental champion Al-Hilal was too strong for the Iranian hosts at the Azadi Stadium.

Saudi-backed Newcastle United hosts Qatari-owned Paris Saint-Germain in the Champions League on Wednesday in a match that is laced with intrigue.

It hasn't taken long for Saudi Arabia to have an impact on European soccer after providing the money that has guided Newcastle back among the giants of the sport.

Japan hopes to resolve China's ban on its seafood following the release of treated wastewater from the Fukushima Daiichi nuclear plant within the World Trade Organization's scope, Agriculture Minister Ichiro Miyashita said Wednesday.

Despite repeated assurances, China banned seafood from Japan immediately after the plant began its treated radioactive wastewater release in August. Seafood accounts for a small portion of Japan's overall trade but the ban has hit exporters hard as China was the top destination for Japanese seafood exports.

Iran said Wednesday it has agreed with Saudi Arabia to reschedule an Asian Champions League match after the Saudi team walked out at the last minute, apparently over the presence of a statue of a slain Iranian general.

The walkout appeared to further strain a recent rapprochement between Saudi Arabia and Iran, longtime rivals who have backed opposite sides in conflicts across the Middle East. But in the days since, both sides have appeared eager to move past it.

Saudi Arabia on Wednesday confirmed that it will maintain a production cut of 1 million barrels of oil a day through the end of the year.

The announcement could further prop up oil prices, which are hovering around $90 a barrel. Production cuts first announced by Saudi Arabia and Russia in July have driven up prices at the pump, enriched Moscow's war chest and complicated global efforts to bring down inflation.

Three homes were destroyed by a forest fire and a man was injured by a falling tree in the Bega Valley region of southeastern Australia, prompting a government leader to warn on Wednesday that a "horror" wildfire season was approaching.

Scores of wildfires have recently raged across the states of New South Wales, Victoria and Tasmania as Australia's driest September on record and unusually warm weather have brought an early start to the annual wildfire season, which peaks during the Southern Hemisphere summer.

Strife-torn Myanmar won its first medal at the Asian Games in China on Wednesday, beating Indonesia to take home gold in men's sepaktakraw, a popular regional sport also known as kick volleyball.

The Southeast Asian nation took two straight sets from Indonesia in the sport with similarities to volleyball, but played only with the feet, knees, head and chest.

A video that shows ultra-Orthodox Jews spitting on the ground beside a procession of foreign Christian worshipers carrying a wooden cross in the holy city of Jerusalem has ignited intense outrage and a flurry of condemnation in the Holy Land.

The spitting incident, which the city's minority Christian community lamented as the latest in an alarming surge of religiously motivated attacks, drew rare outrage on Tuesday from Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and other senior officials.