High school students across France launched a fresh day of protests on Thursday, despite government attempts to ease the crisis.

Amid a growing outcry, Interior Minister Laurent Nunez announced Wednesday that the model of stun grenade suspected of mutilating a teenager in Lens will no longer be used against high schoolers, in light, he said, of a "strong possibility" that such a weapon was involved in ripping off the pupil's hand.

Thirty people were killed and at least 18 were injured by Russian strikes in eastern Ukraine that included an attack on a public bus, authorities said Thursday, as an intensive pre-winter wave of attacks continued and power outages worsened in the capital Kyiv.

Vadym Filashkin, head of the regional military administration, said public transport in Kramatorsk and the neighboring city of Sloviansk, in Ukraine's Donetsk region, was halted because of the sharp deterioration in security.

Several explosions were heard in Saudi Arabia's capital of Riyadh on Thursday, including a large blast at the city's international airport, a witness told The Associated Press, a day after the kingdom said an attack there killed one person and wounded others.

The cause of the blasts was not immediately known. There was no immediate claim of responsibility. Iran-backed Houthi rebels in neighboring Yemen have repeatedly claimed attacks against airports, military and oil facilities in Saudi Arabia in recent days.

A seven-story building in Istanbul partially collapsed on Thursday, killing one person, officials said. Emergency crews were trying to reach at least three people that remained trapped inside.

The reason for the collapse was not immediately known and an investigation was underway. Rescue teams were working to reach those trapped even as there were warnings of a further collapse of the building.

The mayor of Turkey's third-largest city defected to President Recep Tayyip Erdogan 's ruling party on Wednesday, giving it the mayoralty of the opposition stronghold for the first time.

Izmir had been led by the opposition Republican People's Party, or CHP, for more than two decades until Mayor Cemil Tugay joined Erdogan's Justice and Development Party, or AKP, at a ceremony at its headquarters in Ankara.

FIFA President Gianni Infantino already is in globe-trotting campaign mode more than five months ahead of the vote when 211 member federations decide who will lead the world soccer body until 2031.

The March election comes as Infantino faces the biggest leadership crisis since he took office in 2016, triggered by backlash against his now-withdrawn plan to sell private investors a stake in the commercial rights to the World Cup and other FIFA tournaments.

Harry Kane made a record-tying 125th appearance for England in the Nations League match against Czechia at Wembley Stadium on Tuesday — and marked the big occasion with another two goals.

The Bayern Munich striker is level with former goalkeeper Peter Shilton on the list of most caps won for England's men's team. He can break the record when England plays Croatia on Nov. 12, also at Wembley.

Argentina is confronting a once-unimaginable reality: a national team without soccer great Lionel Messi.

On Tuesday, 39-year-old Messi bid farewell to international soccer after 21 years, 126 goals, two Copa América titles and a World Cup championship, scoring a penalty and setting up Argentina's other two goals for a 3-0 victory over Benin. What was otherwise an unremarkable friendly against the West African nation became a moment that this soccer-crazed country had long dreaded.

So much for international football taking a breather after the World Cup.

In fact, the recently completed window of Nations League games in Europe could hardly have been more action-packed.

Countries both rich and poor must take faster action to cut debt and counter growing inequality as their economies weather a triple whammy from the artificial intelligence boom, heavy borrowing and shocks from wars in the Middle East and Ukraine, the head of the IMF said Wednesday.

"Some very tough political choices stare us in the face," IMF Managing Director Kristalina Georgieva said in a speech in Singapore ahead of autumn IMF-World Bank meetings to be held in Bangkok next week.