ALGERIA (Reuters) - Algiers announced the immediate withdrawal of its ambassador to France in response to French President Emmanuel Macron’s official support of Moroccan sovereignty over the Sahara under the autonomy plan. Algerian diplomatic representation in France is now the responsibility of a chargé d’affaires, said the Algerian government. In a letter to King Mohammed VI on the occasion of Throne Day, Macron declared French support for Morocco’s autonomy plan as the sole solution to the Sahara dispute. Last week, France privately conveyed to Algeria its intent to recognize Moroccan sovereignty over the Sahara under the autonomy plan. The Algerian Foreign Ministry  characterized France’s move as “unexpected” and expressed “great regret.”

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 LONDON (Reuters) - Former British TV presenter Huw Edwards, the long-time face of the BBC’s flagship news program, pleaded guilty on Wednesday to three counts of making indecent pictures of children. Edwards was the BBC’s highest paid journalist and top news anchor until he quit in April, following allegations he had paid a young person thousands of pounds for sexually explicit photos, something which is unconnected to the criminal charges. The 62-year-old was a household name in Britain for more than two decades, announcing the death of Queen Elizabeth to the nation in 2022 and leading coverage of elections, royal weddings and the 2012 Olympics.

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ISLAMABAD (Reuters) - Pakistan’s former prime minister Imran Khan has offered to hold “conditional negotiations” with the powerful military as he serves a year into a jail term that he said he was given on trumped up charges designed to keep him out of power. Khan did not specify what he wanted to discuss with the military, but in a post on his official X account on Wednesday said that one of the conditions for negotiations was that “clean and transparent” elections be held and that “bogus” cases against his supporters be dropped. He said he had appointed Mahmood Khan Achakzai, a close political ally and a known critic of the military, to represent him in any talks. The military has previously ruled out talks with Khan. “We will hold conditional negotiations if the military leadership appoints its representative,” Khan said on X. “The country is under an undeclared martial law,” he added.

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SEOUL, South Korea (AP) — The recent heavy rains in northwestern North Korea flooded thousands of houses and a vast extent of farmland and left many residents homeless and living in makeshift tents, North Korea’s state media reported Wednesday. North Korea earlier said more than 5,000 people stranded in Sinuiju city and Uiju town were rescued by airlift and other evacuation work after Saturday’s rains caused a river on the Chinese border to swell. But it hadn’t mentioned any specific damage, or said if there were any casualties. North Korea is prone to flooding from heavy summer rains because of poor drainage, deforestation and dilapidated infrastructure. The official Korean Central News Agency said Wednesday that about 4,100 houses, 3,000 hectares (about 7,410 acres) of agricultural fields and numerous public buildings, roads and railways in Sinuiju and Uiju were flooded.

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WAYANADN (AFP) - Relentless downpours and howling winds hampered Wednesday’s search for survivors of landslides that struck Indian tea plantations and killed at least 150 people, most believed to be laborers and their families. Days of torrential monsoon rains have battered the southern coastal state of Kerala, with blocked roads into the Wayanad district disaster area complicating relief efforts. With the only bridge connecting the worst-hit villages of Chooralmala and Mundakkai washed away, rescue teams were forced to cart bodies on stretchers out of the disaster zone using a makeshift zipline erected over raging flood waters.