A group of winners of the Nobel Prize for Literature urged world leaders on Wednesday to raise human rights issues as they visit Egypt for the COP27 climate change conference.

In a letter sent to various heads of state, the group of 15 Nobel Laureates asked the visiting diplomats and politicians to "devote part of your agenda to the many thousands of political prisoners held in Egypt's prisons." In particular, they asked for the case of prominent imprisoned activist Alaa Abdel-Fattah to be raised, as he escalates his hunger strike on the conference's first day.

A Palestinian slammed his car into an Israeli army officer near a checkpoint in the occupied West Bank Wednesday, seriously injuring him, the Israeli military said. The officer opened fire on the man, the military said, and according to the Palestinians, he died soon after.

The Palestinians identified the suspected attacker as Habas Abdel Hafeez Yousef Rayan, 54.

Arab leaders convened on Wednesday in Algeria for the second day of the 31st summit of the largest annual Arab conference, seeking common ground on several divisive issues in the region. The meeting comes against the backdrop of rising inflation, food and energy shortages, drought and soaring cost of living across the Middle East and Africa.

The kings, emirs, presidents and prime ministers discussed thorny issues during a two-day gathering in the capital Algiers, such as the establishment of diplomatic ties between Israel and four Arab countries as former Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and his far-right allies appears to be heading to an election victory.

Brazilian President Jair Bolsonaro's administration signaled a willingness to hand over power, two days after a nail-biting election loss to leftist Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva and amid speculation the far-right incumbent might fight the result.

Bolsonaro reportedly told members of Brazil's Supreme Court Tuesday that his election battle against da Silva has come to an end. Earlier, in a brief speech at the presidential palace, he said: "I have always played within the four lines of the constitution," although he stopped short of conceding.

Air raid sirens sounded on a South Korean island and residents evacuated to underground shelters after North Korea fired more than 20 missiles Wednesday, at least one of them in its direction and landing near the rivals' tense sea border. South Korea quickly responded by launching its own missiles in the same border area.

The launches came hours after North Korea threatened to use nuclear weapons to get the U.S. and South Korea to "pay the most horrible price in history" in protest of ongoing South Korean-U.S. military drills that it views as an invasion rehearsal. The White House maintained that the United States has no hostile intent toward North Korea and vowed to work with allies to curb North Korea's nuclear ambitions.

For the fifth time in four years, Israelis went to the polls, and once again, no clear victor immediately emerged.

Exit polls by Israeli media gave former Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and his nationalist and religious allies a slight edge early Wednesday, but the final tally could change as the official count is conducted.

Former Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu appeared headed toward victory Wednesday, with 80% of the ballots from the parliamentary elections counted and showing that voters gave him and his far-right allies what looks like a stable majority in the country's parliament.

Votes were still being counted and results were not final. But if preliminary indications were correct, Israel was potentially headed to its most right-wing government, bolstered by a strong showing from the ultranationalist Religious Zionism party, whose members use inflammatory anti-Arab and anti-LGBTQ rhetoric.

Maria Sakkari couldn't help but smile a wide smile after taking a pair of tiebreakers to edge Jessica Pegula across more than two hours of big-hitting baseline action in front of a sparse crowd Monday as round-robin singles play began at the WTA Finals.

Sure, the No.5-ranked Sakkari was excited about the 7-6 (6), 7-6 (4) victory on a temporary indoor hard court at Dickies Arena against No. 3 Pegula in the season-ending tournament, just eight days after losing to the American in the final of another event.

Kyle Walker and Kalvin Phillips should recover from their injuries in time to be available to England for the World Cup, Manchester City manager Pep Guardiola said on Tuesday.

England coach Gareth Southgate will announce his squad next week and is unlikely to see Walker or Phillips return to action before naming his 26-man group for the tournament that starts on Nov. 20.

Taylor Swift scored a 10 out of 10 as she became the first artist in history to claim the top 10 slots of the Billboard Hot 100 chart with tracks from her new record "Midnights."

Billboard reported Monday that Swift surpassed Drake, who had held the previous record with nine of the top 10 songs for a week in September 2021.