Nigeria's President Goodluck Jonathan has ordered the closure of the country's land and sea borders before this weekend's general election, the interior ministry said on Wednesday.

The closure will take effect from midnight (2300 GMT Wednesday) until the same time on Saturday, after polling closes for presidential and parliamentary elections.

India took delivery Wednesday of the first two refitted Mirage fighter jets out of a total 51 in the pipeline at a ceremony at the Istres airbase in southern France, as talks for more modern Rafales dragged on.

Signed in 2011 after five years of talks, the contract is worth 1.4 billion euros to be shared by Thales and Dassault, according to an Indian defense ministry document cited by the French business website LaTribune.fr.

A suicide car bomber killed seven people in Kabul Wednesday as the Taliban warned that Washington's decision to slow the withdrawal of U.S. troops from Afghanistan will hamper peace efforts.

U.S. President Barack Obama on Tuesday reversed plans to withdraw around 5,000 U.S. troops from Afghanistan this year, an overture to the country's new reform-minded leader, President Ashraf Ghani.

Palestinian Prime Minister Rami Hamdallah urged rival factions to set aside their differences, even as protesters gave him a cool reception in war-battered Gaza on Wednesday.

It was only Hamdallah's second visit to the Gaza Strip since a unity government agreed on by rivals Fatah and Hamas took office last June.

Italian police on Wednesday announced the arrest of three men suspected of involvement in recruiting jihadists to fight in Syria and the promotion of Islamic extremism.

One of the three, a 20-year-old Italian with Moroccan roots, is suspected of being the author of a 64-page Italian-language document which outlines the goals and principles of the Islamic State group and has been circulated on the Internet and social networks.

Fierce clashes raged at the eastern entrance to the Syrian city of Idlib as regime forces battled a coalition of rebels led by al-Qaida's local branch on Wednesday, a monitor said.

The clashes came a day after a new coalition made up of al-Qaida affiliate al-Nusra Front and its Islamist allies launched an operation against the regime-held provincial capital in northwest Syria.

Seven of former Chadian leader Hissene Habre's security chiefs were jailed for life Wednesday for torture and murder by a special court in the capital N'Djamena.

They included the ex-head of the political police Saleh Younous and Mahamat Djibrine, who investigators said was one of the "most feared torturers" under Habre's eight-year dictatorship.

Ukraine on Wednesday dramatically arrested two top officials on graft charges at a televised cabinet meeting hours after the president sacked a powerful oligarch as regional governor.

The dramatic shake-up came as the beleaguered authorities, already struggling to combat pro-Russian separatists in the country's east, tried to make good on pledges to tackle rampant graft and curb the influence of the country's powerful business magnates.

Flags flew at half-mast and workplaces fell silent Wednesday as Spain grieved for the 150 people, including at least 51 Spaniards, killed in a plane crash in the French Alps.

Mourners stood still for a minute's silence at noon at countless points around the country, including both houses of parliament in Madrid, theaters and football fields.

Pakistan's military said Wednesday it had killed 30 militants in air strikes on a tribal region near the Afghan border as part of a major anti-insurgent offensive that began last year.

The strikes hit the strategic Tirah valley in Khyber tribal district, where the Pakistani Taliban and Lashkar-e-Islam groups have strongholds.