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.

Sudan's deposed prime minister and his wife were allowed to return home, a day after they were detained when the military seized power in a coup, according to a statement issued by his office.

The release of Prime Minister Abdallah Hamdok and his wife followed international condemnation of the coup and calls for the military to release all the government officials who were detained when Gen. Abdel-Fattah Burhan seized power on Monday.

Gunmen from the Islamic State extremist group attacked a village northeast of Baghdad on Tuesday, killing at least 11 civilians and wounding six others, Iraqi security officials said.

The officials said the attack occurred in the predominantly Shiite village of al-Rashad northeast of Baqouba in Diyala province. The circumstances of the attack were not immediately clear, but two officials who spoke to The Associated Press said Islamic State group militants had kidnapped two villagers earlier and then raided the village when their demands for ransom were not met.

Boxers, janitors, fishermen, the heroes of Keisuke Yoshida's movies are Japanese society's angst-filled losers, struggling against odds in a violent, imperfect, often-crazed world.

The Japanese director and his three latest works are being featured at the Tokyo International Film Festival, opening Oct. 30.

Walter Smith, the Scottish football coach who won 21 trophies over two spells with Rangers and restored respectability to his national team in a brief stint in charge, has died. He was 73.

Smith had been "battling illness," Rangers chairman Douglas Park said Tuesday in a statement from the Glasgow team announcing the death.