The Planning Council in Judea and Samaria approved the construction of 3,500 housing units in the West Bank, including in Ma'ale Adumim, Efrat, and Kedar, Maariv reported Wednesday. Finance Minister Bezalel Smotrich welcomed the recent approval, stating "This year we have done great things for the settlements. Along with the housing unit approval, we are promoting the series of settlements, land surveys, security, roads, and other announcements in Judea and Samaria on an unprecedented scale.""The State of Israel will continue to grow and develop in all areas, and the settlement will continue to grow, prosper, and flourish."This is a developing story.

Russia does not recognize the arrest warrants issued by the International Criminal Court (ICC) for two Russian commanders, the Kremlin said on Wednesday.The Kremlin said Russia was not a party to the Rome Statute that established the ICC - and that the process at the court was closed.The ICC issued arrest warrants for Sergei Kobylash and Viktor Sokolov for suspected war crimes in Ukraine, saying there were reasonable grounds to believe that the two were responsible for "missile strikes carried out by the forces under their command against the Ukrainian electric infrastructure from at least 10 October 2022 until at least 9 March 2023."

The United Kingdom Maritime Trade Operations (UKMTO) agency received a report on Wednesday of an incident 54 nautical miles southwest of Yemen's Aden.UKMTO added that authorities are investigating the incident, and no further details were provided.