Yemeni rebels closed in on President Abedrabo Mansour Hadi as they seized Aden's airport Wednesday, prompting warnings of a full-blown conflict and pleas for urgent foreign intervention.

The escalating turmoil in Yemen -- which borders Saudi Arabia and lies close to key shipping routes -- pushed up world oil prices on fears it could threaten Middle Eastern petroleum producers.

Hong Kong's leader warned activists Wednesday that the public would "not be sympathetic" to more pro-democracy protests as the city prepares for the next phase of controversial political reforms.

Parts of the Asian financial center were brought to a standstill by mass street blockades at the end of last year, sparked by restrictions from Beijing on how Hong Kong's next leader will be chosen.

Ukraine's president has dismissed one of the country's most controversial tycoons from his regional governor's post, his office said Wednesday, in a showdown baring the infighting between powerful oligarchs even as the country struggles to combat pro-Russian insurgents.

President Petro Poroshenko -- himself a billionaire magnate -- accepted Igor Kolomoisky's offer to step down as head of the strategic central Dnipropetrovsk region, the presidency said, after a dispute over control of the main state oil and gas firm descended into open confrontation.

Omar and Bilal Miqati, two top fugitives who were detained on Tuesday at an army checkpoint in the northeastern border town of Arsal, reportedly could reveal important information during investigations that would lead to the arrest of their accomplices.

According to As Safir newspaper published on Wednesday, the two men are expected to reveal crucial data that would lead to busting terror networks and dormant cells in Lebanon and the arrest their members, who were described as highly dangerous.

Two Bangladeshi workers abducted in Libya by suspected Islamic State militants have been freed after more than two weeks, Dhaka said Wednesday.

They were among a group of nine people including four Filipinos and an Austrian reportedly taken hostage in southern Libya this month in an attack blamed on the jihadist group.

The newly-appointed members of the Banking Control Commission of Lebanon are expected to start their mission despite the absence of a president.

The official Gazette will likely publish the decree of their appointment on Thursday.

Kataeb Party leader Amin Gemayel blamed Iran on the spread of crises in the region and criticized Free Patriotic Movement leader MP Michel Aoun over his “illogical” stance from the presidential deadlock.

“The (region's) crises began since Iran started to spread its influence in Iraq, Syria and in Lebanon through Hizbullah,” Gemayel told pan-Arab daily Asharq al-Awsat in an interview published on Wednesday.

Investigators on Wednesday made the first breakthrough in the probe into the crash of an airliner in the French Alps, as President Francois Hollande vowed everything would be done to explain the tragedy that killed 150 people.

Officials from the BEA crash investigation agency said they had extracted "usable data" from one of the Germanwings Airbus A320's two "black boxes" found among the debris, with recordings from the cockpit, but still had no explanation for the mysterious crash.

Angry relatives gathered outside a Myanmar court Wednesday to show support for dozens of activists, arrested after a police crackdown on a student-led protest and facing charges that could see them jailed for nearly a decade.

More than 60 demonstrators were brought to a court hearing in the central town of Letpadan two weeks after baton-wielding police violently quelled their rally for education reform in scenes that sparked fears of a return to junta-era repression.

The driver of top militant Sirajeddine Zureiqat, a so-called spokesman of the Qaida-linked Abdullah Azzam Brigades, was detained recently, al-Akhbar newspaper reported on Wednesday.

According to the daily, the suspect, who was identified by his initials Y.A., confessed during investigation with the Internal Security Forces Information Branch to having close ties with Zureiqat.