Hundreds of police officers searched the properties of Hamas members and followers in Germany on Thursday morning following a formal ban on any activity by or in support of the militant group.

The German government implemented the ban on Nov. 2 and dissolved Samidoun, a group that was behind a celebration in Berlin of Hamas' Oct. 7 attack on Israel.

The party of anti-Islam populist Geert Wilders won a huge general election victory in the Netherlands, according to a nearly complete vote count early Thursday, that showed a stunning lurch to the far right for a nation once famed as a beacon of tolerance.

The result will send shock waves through Europe, where far-right ideology is on the rise, and puts Wilders in line to lead talks to form the next governing coalition and possibly become the first far-right prime minister of the Netherlands.

The White House said Tuesday that Russia's Wagner mercenary group plans to provide an air defense system to Lebanon's Hezbollah militants or to the regime in Tehran, as part of an "unprecedented defense cooperation" between the two U.S. adversaries.

"Our information... indicates that Wagner, at the direction of the Russian government, was preparing to provide an air defense capability to either Hezbollah or Iran," National Security Council spokesman John Kirby told reporters.

Xi Jinping on Tuesday called for the release of civilian detainees and an immediate ceasefire in the war between Israel and Hamas, state media said, as the Chinese President addressed a virtual summit of fellow BRICS leaders.

"All parties in the conflicts should immediately cease fire and hostilities, stop all violence and attacks targeting civilians, and release civilian detainees to avoid more loss of lives and suffering," Xi said, according to Beijing's state news agency Xinhua.

Russia said on Tuesday it fended off Ukraine's attempts to get to the occupied eastern bank of the southern Kherson region, and claimed Kyiv's army had suffered "colossal losses".

The Ukrainian army said last week it had pushed Russian forces back three to eight kilometres (two to five miles) from the banks of Dnipro river, which would have been their first meaningful advance in months.

The helicopter-borne Houthi attack on an Israel-linked ship in the Red Sea highlights the danger now lurking in one of the world's key shipping routes as the Israel-Hamas war rages, as well as the rebels' tactics mirroring those of its chief sponsor, Iran.

While Tehran has denied aiding the Yemen rebel group in launching their attack Sunday, the targeted ship before the assault passed by an American-sanctioned Iranian cargo vessel suspected as serving as a forward spying base in the Red Sea. The rebels, dressed commando-style in bulletproof vests carrying assault rifles, covered each other and moved in military formation before quickly seizing control of the bridge of the Galaxy Leader.

It happens every November, when the cold descends on Kyiv. The change in weather always makes Dmytro Riznychenko think back, and he is overwhelmed by his emotions.

"This is where it truly began," Riznychenko said, walking through central Kyiv's Independence Square recently, reflecting on the uprising that unleashed a decade of momentous change for Ukraine, eventually leading to the current war with Russia.

Turkish rescuers on Monday recovered the body of a crew member of a cargo ship that sank off Turkey's Black Sea coast in severe storms, officials said. Eleven other crew were reported missing.

The Turkish-flagged Kafkametler sank on Sunday after hitting a breakwater outside the harbor off the town of Eregli, some 200 kilometers (124 miles) east of Istanbul. Transportation and Infrastructure Minister Abdulkadir Uraloglu said the vessel, which was on its way to the western Turkish port of Izmir, lashed into the breakwater several times before it sank.

Federal government workers from the State Department to NASA are circulating open letters demanding that President Joe Biden pursue a cease-fire in Israel's war against Hamas. Congressional staffers are picking up microphones in front of the Capitol, speaking out to condemn what they say is the silence of lawmakers about the toll on Palestinian civilians.

As the deaths soar in Gaza, Biden and Congress are facing unusually public challenges from the inside over their support for Israel's offensive. Hundreds of staffers in the administration and on Capitol Hill are signing on to open letters, speaking to reporters and holding vigils, all in an effort to shift U.S. policy toward more urgent action to stem Palestinian casualties.

Heavy fighting in a disputed region claimed by both Sudan and South Sudan killed has at least 32 people, including a U.N. peacekeeper, authorities said.

The civilians and a Ghanaian soldier serving with a peacekeeping force died when unknown gunmen attacked two villages in the southern part of the Abyei administrative region, local media reported.