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Bundesliga football club Borussia Dortmund said Wednesday they have withdrawn honorary membership from Germany's former Chancellor Gerhard Schroeder because of his links to Russia.

The Group of Seven industrialised nations are examining ways to stop individuals or companies targeted by Western sanctions over Russia's invasion of Ukraine using cryptocurrencies to dodge the punitive measures, Germany's finance minister said Wednesday.

Chelsea's Russian owner Roman Abramovich on Wednesday confirmed he is to sell the Premier League club, pledging that proceeds will go to victims of the war in Ukraine.

"L'Empire des lumieres" was sold for £59.4 million ($79.4 million, 71.4 million euros) in London on Wednesday, shattering the record for a work by Belgian artist Rene Magritte.

Belarusian tennis star Victoria Azarenka, a former world number one and two-time Grand Slam title winner, said Wednesday she is "devastated" by the violence "against and in Ukraine" following Russia's invasion of its neighbour.

Dozens of anti-war demonstrators were detained in Moscow and Saint Petersburg Wednesday after jailed Kremlin critic Alexei Navalny called on Russians to protest President Vladimir Putin's invasion of Ukraine.

An army of volunteer hackers is rising up in cyberspace to defend Ukraine, though internet specialists are calling on geeks and other "hacktivists" to stay out of a potentially very dangerous computer war.

Chelsea owner Roman Abramovich on Wednesday confirmed he will sell the Premier League club amid Russia's invasion of Ukraine.

Two works by the mystery British artist Banksy belonging to the singer Robbie Williams both sold for several million pounds at auction in London on Wednesday.

Two works by the mystery British artist Banksy belonging to the singer Robbie Williams both sold for several million pounds at auction in London on Wednesday.

Spanish prosecutors have dropped all investigations into the finances of former king Juan Carlos, court documents showed Wednesday, potentially paving the way for his return from exile in the UAE.

Russia on Wednesday mooted the possibility of ceasefire talks with Ukraine after Russian forces shelled several Ukrainian cities and troops battled in the streets of Kharkiv.

The UN General Assembly on Wednesday overwhelmingly adopted a resolution that "demands" Russia "immediately" withdraw from Ukraine, in a powerful rebuke of Moscow's invasion by a vast majority of the world's nations.

After spending several days in a basement in fear of Russian bombs in southern Ukraine, 15-year-old Arsen and his mother Irina reached Moldova. But the teenager is already longing to return home.

From wars in Chechnya to Syria, Vladimir Putin has overseen military campaigns that have inflicted vast and often indiscriminate damage on civilian infrastructure, raising fears he might repeat the tactics in Ukraine, observers say.

Amid all the focus on Roman Abramovich's stewardship of Chelsea, there is another prominent European football club in the hands of a discreet billionaire Russian owner about whom questions are being asked.

Oil prices soared Wednesday above $113 per barrel and natural gas hit a record peak before edging off their peaks, as investors fretted over key producer Russia's intensifying assault on Ukraine.

The United Nations on Wednesday agreed to start negotiating a world-first global treaty on plastic pollution in what has been hailed as a watershed moment for the planet.

The "snap!" of a shutting phone is the nostalgic sound resonating from the giant stands of Samsung, Oppo and Huawei at the Mobile World Congress in Barcelona this week.

Superstar French designer Olivier Rousteing admitted he felt uncomfortable presenting his latest collection for Balmain at Paris Fashion Week on Wednesday in view of the war in Ukraine.

US Attorney General Merrick Garland announced the launch on Wednesday of a multi-agency task force to pursue "corrupt Russian oligarchs" and violators of sanctions imposed on Russia for its invasion of Ukraine.

Smartphone manufacturers have promised to do better when it comes to recycling and reconditioning their product, responding to pressure from environmental campaigners.

Ukrainian men with worried looks, weary women and restless children, many staring into the distance, wait patiently in the long queue as Czech volunteers call out instructions left and right.

The impact of the conflict in Ukraine on the US economy is "highly uncertain," and the central bank will need to adjust quickly to ensure the post-pandemic recovery continues, Federal Reserve Chair Jerome Powell said Wednesday.

The decision to cancel the Russian Grand Prix due to Russia's invasion of Ukraine "does not make sense", former Formula One supremo Bernie Ecclestone told AFP on Wednesday.

Russia's blocking of a liberal radio station and an independent TV channel has shaken remaining independent media in the country that see the invasion of Ukraine as opening up a "second front" against them.

US Attorney General Merrick Garland announced the launch on Wednesday of a task force to pursue "corrupt Russian oligarchs" and violators of sanctions imposed on Russia for its invasion of Ukraine.

Russian authorities are scrambling to stem panic as massive sanctions over Moscow's invasion of Ukraine delivered the worst economic shocks since the fall of the Soviet Union.

On a table covered in a green sheet, two Saudi officers pour out thousands of white amphetamine pills they have just seized from a neighbourhood in the kingdom's Red Sea city of Jeddah.

Nigeria's government on Wednesday planned to start airlifting more than 1,000 citizens stranded in countries neighbouring Ukraine after they fled the Russian invasion.

Russian forces shelled several Ukrainian cities on Wednesday as troops battled in the streets of Kharkiv and Ukraine's president accused Moscow of wanting to "erase our country".

Manu Tuilagi was missing Wednesday from an England training squad selected for this week's three-day training camp in Bristol ahead of their next Six Nations match against Ireland.