India's top court on Wednesday established a committee of experts to look into accusations that Prime Minister Narendra Modi's government used Israeli military-grade spyware to monitor political opponents, journalists and activists.

The Supreme Court order came in response to petitions filed by a group of Indian journalists, rights activists and opposition politicians following an investigation by a global media consortium in July. The committee, headed by a retired judge, is expected to give its findings by year-end.

Law enforcement authorities are scheduled to discuss initial findings about a fatal movie-set shooting with a prop gun discharged by actor Alec Baldwin that left a cinematographer dead and the director wounded.

Scheduled for Wednesday, the news conference by Santa Fe County Sheriff Adan Mendoza and District Attorney Mary Carmack-Altwies promises the first detailed public comments by investigators about the killing of 42-year-old Halyna Hutchins during an on-set rehearsal at a ranch outside Santa Fe.

A study commissioned by the environmental group Greenpeace shows that over one-third of the busiest short-haul flights in Europe have viable train alternatives which are far less polluting.

The group called on European governments Wednesday to boost train travel so fewer polluting planes are flying over the continent. The study by OBC Transeuropa showed that 34% of the 150 busiest short-haul flights have train trip alternatives of less than 6 hours.

The global energy transition is perhaps nowhere more perplexing than in the Arabian Peninsula, where Saudi Arabia and other Gulf monarchies are caught between two daunting climate change scenarios that threaten their livelihoods.

In one, the world stops burning oil and gas to cut down on heat-trapping emissions, shaking the very foundation of their economies. In the other, global temperatures keep rising, at the risk of rendering unlivable much of the Gulf's already extremely hot terrain.

The leaders of Russia and China aren't coming. Turkey nearly set off a diplomatic incident on the eve of the meeting. And the United States, Australia and France will be at the same table for the first time since Washington pulled the rug out from under Paris' $66 billion submarine deal Down Under.

A Group of 20 summit scheduled for this weekend in Rome - the first in-person gathering of leaders of the world's biggest economies since the COVID-19 pandemic started - is not business as usual. That's especially true since as soon as the event ends, a bigger United Nations summit devoted to climate change begins in Glasgow, Scotland.

Sudanese security forces detained three prominent pro-democracy figures, family members and activists said Wednesday, as international pressure mounted on the country's military to walk back the coup it staged earlier this week.

The overnight arrests in the capital Khartoum came a few hours after the military allowed deposed Prime Minister Abdalla Hamdok and his wife to return home.

Iran's president said Wednesday that a cyberattack which paralyzed every gas station in the Islamic Republic was designed to get "people angry by creating disorder and disruption," as long lines still snaked around the pumps a day after the incident began.

Ebrahim Raisi's remarks stopped short of assigning blame for the attack, which rendered useless the government-issued electronic cards that many Iranians use to buy subsidized fuel at the pump. However, his remarks suggested that he and others in the theocracy believe anti-Iranian forces carried out the assault.

The defense for former Nissan executive Greg Kelly said Wednesday there was no evidence or motives linking him to alleged under-reporting of his ex-boss Carlos Ghosn's compensation.

Kelly's chief defense lawyer, Yoichi Kitamura, said in wrapping up the defense's arguments that Kelly is innocent and he had no knowledge of the complex calculations over Ghosn's unpaid remuneration, tabulated and updated by Nissan Motor Co. secretariat official Toshiaki Ohnuma.

Syria's electricity ministry has signed a $115 million contract with an Iranian company to rehabilitate a power station in a central province of the war-torn country, state media reported.

Under the agreement involving the two allies — who are both under U.S. sanctions — the Iranian company Peymanir will rehabilitate the Mhardeh power station in Hama province.

King Abdullah II of Jordan has visited Poland for talks with President Andrzej Duda on security issues and further defense cooperation.

The two leaders met at the Presidential Palace in Warsaw.