President Joe Biden is ready to urge participants at the first-ever White House Summit for Democracy to reverse an ongoing "recession" of democracy that is playing out at a time of rising authoritarianism around the globe and extraordinary strains on foundational institutions in the U.S.

The two-day virtual summit that starts Thursday has been billed as an opportunity for leaders and civil society experts from some 110 countries to collaborate on fighting corruption and promoting respect for human rights. But the gathering already has drawn backlash from the United States' chief adversaries and other nations that were not invited to participate.

Saudi Arabia's crown prince is in Qatar on Thursday for the first time since the kingdom rallied other Arab states to end their years long rift and embargo on the small Gulf state.

Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman's visit to Qatar marks his third stop in the region this week as the Saudi heir to the throne tours the six U.S.-allied Gulf Arab states that make up the Gulf Cooperation Council. His meetings with Arab rulers are aimed at fortifying the kingdom's alliances as rival Iran resumes nuclear negotiations with world powers.

French Foreign Minister Jean-Yves Le Drian held talks in Algeria Wednesday in a bid to heal the latest rift between the North African country and its former colonial ruler.

Le Drian's trip, kept secret until the last minute, is a "working visit, to evaluate and relaunch the relationship" and he is set to meet President Abdelmadjid Tebboune, a French foreign ministry source told AFP on condition of anonymity.

Rembrandt van Rijn's iconic painting "The Night Watch" will be restretched to get rid of deformations in its top left corner, the Netherlands' national museum announced Wednesday.

The 379.5x453.5-centimeter (149.4x178.5-inch) canvas will be removed from its wooden stretcher next month and placed on a new one to remove rippling that was caused when the world famous painting was housed in a temporary gallery while the Rijksmuseum underwent major renovations from 2003-2013.

Instagram on Tuesday launched a feature that urges teenagers to take breaks from the photo-sharing platform and announced other tools aimed at protecting young users from harmful content on the Facebook-owned service.

The previously announced "Take A Break" feature encourages teens to stop scrolling if they have been on the social media platform for a while, Instagram head Adam Mosseri said in a blog post. It rolled out to the U.S., United Kingdom, Ireland, Canada, New Zealand and Australia on Tuesday and would reach the rest of the world early next year, he said.

Facebook's parent company Meta said Wednesday it has expanded its ban on postings linked to Myanmar's military to include all pages, groups, and accounts representing military-controlled businesses. It had already banned advertising from such businesses in February.

The February action, which also banned military and military-controlled state and media entities from Facebook and Instagram, followed the army's seizure of power from the elected government of Aung San Suu Kyi.

Stocks advanced Wednesday in Asia after another broad rally on Wall Street as investors wagered that the new variant of the COVID-19 virus won't pose a big threat to the economy.

Shares rose in Paris, London, Tokyo and Shanghai but fell in Frankfurt as Germany's parliament elected Olaf Scholz as the country's ninth post-World War II chancellor, opening a new era for the European Union's largest economy after Angela Merkel's 16-year tenure.

British Prime Minister Boris Johnson says no U.K. government minister will attend the Beijing Winter Olympics, calling it "effectively" a diplomatic boycott.

Johnson was asked in the House of Commons whether the U.K. will join the United States, Australia and Lithuania in a diplomatic boycott of the Winter Games.

Pfizer said Wednesday that a booster dose of its COVID-19 vaccine may protect against the new omicron variant even though the initial two doses appear significantly less effective.

Pfizer and its partner BioNTech said lab tests showed a booster dose increased by 25-fold the level of so-called neutralizing antibodies against omicron.

British Prime Minister Boris Johnson on Wednesday ordered an inquiry and said he was "furious" after a leaked video showed senior members of his staff joking about holding a lockdown-breaching Christmas party.

The video has poured fuel on allegations that government officials flouted coronavirus rules they imposed on everyone else.