The European Union's executive arm proposed Wednesday that all natural gas storage facilities in the 27-nation bloc are topped up to at least 80% capacity for next winter as it seeks to reduce its reliance on Russian energy in the future.

On the eve of a two-day summit of EU leaders, the European Commission said the bloc must quickly revamp its energy policy before next winter and another price crisis leaves millions of EU citizens with bills they cannot pay.

At 37 years old, it's no secret time is running out for Cristiano Ronaldo.

Playing at a high level is not getting any easier, and the opportunities to compete in top tournaments are becoming scarce.

The Egyptian pound slipped further against the dollar on Wednesday, after Egypt's Central Bank raised its main interest rate and devalued the local currency by 14%.

The moves by the Central Bank of Egypt were meant to combat inflationary waves triggered by the coronavirus pandemic and Russia's war in Ukraine, which hiked oil prices to record highs.

The chief of the United Nations announced a project Wednesday to put every person on Earth in range of early weather-warning systems within five years as natural disasters have grown more powerful and frequent due to climate change.

U.N. Secretary-General Antonio Guterres said the project with the Geneva-based World Meteorological Organization aims to make the alert systems already used by many rich countries available to the developing world.

As Morocco withers under its worst drought in 40 years, experts warn that a combination of climate change and bad resource management could trigger severe drinking water shortages.

"The country hasn't seen a situation like this since the start of the 1980s," said water policy expert Abderrahim Hendouf.

Poland’s Internal Security Agency says it is expelling 45 Russian intelligence officers using diplomatic status as cover to stay in country.

The agency said Wednesday it is asking the Foreign Ministry to urgently expel the Russians, describing them as a danger to Poland’s security.

A Chinese aviation official said Wednesday that one of the two "black box" recorders had been found in severely damaged condition, two days after a China Eastern flight crashed in southern China with 132 people on board.

The device is so damaged that investigators were not able to tell whether it is the flight data recorder or the cockpit voice recorder, said Mao Yanfeng, the director of the accident investigation division of the Civil Aviation Authority of China.

The foreign ministers of Iran and Syria, two allies of Russia, discussed the war in Ukraine and other developments during a meeting in Damascus on Wednesday. Syria's top diplomat said Moscow is defending its people.

Faisal Mekdad spoke to reporters in Damascus after his Iranian counterpart, Hossein Amirabdollahian, held talks with President Bashar Assad, Mekdad and top security official Maj. Gen. Ali Mamlouk.

The search for clues into why a Chinese commercial jetliner dove suddenly and crashed into a mountain in southern China was suspended Wednesday as rain slickened the debris field and filled the red-dirt gash formed by the plane's fiery impact.

Earlier, searchers had used hand tools, drones and sniffer dogs under rainy conditions to comb the heavily forested slopes for the flight data and cockpit voice recorders, as well as any human remains. Crews also worked to pump water from the pit created when the plane hit the ground, but their efforts were suspended around midmorning because small landslides were possible on the steep, slick slopes.

Ukrainian leaders accused Russia of seizing 15 rescue workers and drivers from a humanitarian convoy trying to get desperately needed food and other supplies into the bloodied port city of Mariupol, which also came under naval attack after weeks of air and land strikes.

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy estimated that 100,000 civilians remained in Mariupol, scene of some of the war's worst devastation, as Russia presses a nearly month-old offensive by bombarding cities and towns. Those made it out described a shattered city.