An Algerian court has jailed a journalist convicted of "spreading false news" in an article about dates allegedly tainted with banned pesticides, his newspaper said Wednesday.

Belkacem Houam was handed a year-long prison sentence, most of it suspended, but he will spend two months behind bars, said his paper, Echorouk.

The Chinese city of Shanghai started administering an inhalable COVID-19 vaccine on Wednesday in what appears to be a world first.

The vaccine, a mist that is sucked in through the mouth, is being offered for free as a booster dose for previously vaccinated individuals, according to an announcement posted on an official city social media account.

British Prime Minister Rishi Sunak is holding the first meeting of his new Cabinet before facing the opposition in Parliament on Wednesday for the first time as leader.

Sunak took office on Tuesday and appointed a government mixing allies with experienced ministers from the governments of his two immediate predecessors, Boris Johnson and Liz Truss, as he tries to tackle Britain's multiple economic problems.

Israeli President Isaac Herzog has been invited to address a joint meeting of Congress as Israel prepares to celebrate the 75th anniversary of its founding, which congressional leaders called a "historic and joyous milestone."

House Speaker Nancy Pelosi, D-Calif., and Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer, D-N.Y., issued the invitation to Herzog in a joint letter Tuesday. They said the two nations have shared "an unbreakable bond rooted in common security, shared values, and friendship."

Natural gas and electricity prices in Europe have plunged from summer peaks thanks to mild weather and a monthslong scramble to fill gas storage ahead of winter and replace Russian supplies during the war in Ukraine. It's a welcome respite after Russia slashed natural gas flows, triggering an energy crisis that has fueled record inflation and a looming recession.

Yet experts warn it's too soon to exhale, even as European governments roll out relief packages for people struggling with high utility bills and work on longer-term ways to contain volatile gas and electricity prices that have shrunk household budgets and forced some businesses to shut down.

The leader of the coalition of gas-exporting countries said Tuesday the group expects demand for the fuel to far outstrip supply until 2025 amid a global energy crisis sparked by the war in Ukraine.

Secretary General of the Gas Exporting Countries Forum Mohamed Hamel, of Algeria, said at the group's meeting in Cairo that although investment was increasing in natural gas production the countries didn't expect to have new sources of supply online for another three years.

The voices of Israel's Palestinian citizens are often drowned out or delegitimized in the country's noisy politics. Yet in the upcoming parliament election, they could hold the key to breaking an entrenched political deadlock.

Israelis vote Tuesday for the fifth time in under four years. The country remains divided over former Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu's fitness to serve while on trial for corruption. Polls show those numbers have barely budged.

A strong earthquake rocked a large swathe of the northern Philippines, injuring at least 26 people and forcing the closure of an international airport and the evacuation of patients in a hospital, officials said Wednesday.

The Philippine Institute of Volcanology and Seismology said Tuesday night's magnitude 6.4 quake, which was set off by movement in a local fault, was centered 9 kilometers (5 miles) northwest of Lagayan town in Abra province at a depth of 11 kilometers (7 miles).

Zara owner Inditex has reached an agreement to sell its Russian business to a Lebanese retail and real estate conglomerate, the Spanish fashion giant said Tuesday in a statement to the country's competition authorities.

The buyer is Daher Group and the potential purchase is pending approval from Russian authorities, Inditex said, without disclosing financial details.

Adidas has ended its partnership with the rapper formerly known as Kanye West over his offensive and antisemitic remarks, the latest company to cut ties with Ye and a decision that the German sportwear company said would hit its bottom line.

"Adidas does not tolerate antisemitism and any other sort of hate speech," the company said in a statement Tuesday. "Ye's recent comments and actions have been unacceptable, hateful and dangerous, and they violate the company's values of diversity and inclusion, mutual respect and fairness."