Saudi club Al Nassr announced Wednesday the appointment of Stefano Pioli as coach of the side headed up by Portugal star Cristiano Ronaldo.

The Italian replaces Luis Castro, who parted ways with the club on Tuesday after a slow start to the season, both domestically and in the AFC Champions League.

"Pioli is Nassrawi," Al Nassr said a statement on social media platform X.

"We welcome Stefano Pioli as our new coach."

The 58-year-old was AC Milan boss from October 2019 to May 2024, and oversaw the club's Serie A title-winning campaign in 2022.

Saudi Arabia's de facto ruler said Wednesday that the kingdom will not establish ties with Israel until a Palestinian state has been created, in a blow to US efforts to seal a normalisation deal.

"We renew the kingdom's rejection and strong condemnation of the crimes of the Israeli occupation authority against the Palestinian people," Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman told the opening session of its advisory Shura Council.

Taiwan and Hungary on Wednesday denied making pagers that exploded while being used by Hezbollah members in Lebanon, killing 12 people.

The New York Times, citing American and other anonymous officials, reported that Israel had inserted explosive material into a shipment of pagers from Taiwan's Gold Apollo.

Taiwanese prosecutors launched an investigation.

Gold Apollo denied producing the devices and instead pointed the finger at its Budapest-based partner BAC Consulting KFT.

The simultaneous explosion of hundreds of pagers used by Hezbollah members has massively hindered the group's communications and could undermine its operations against Israel in Lebanon's south, analysts said.

The wireless devices used by Hezbollah combatants, health workers and administrative staff exploded across Lebanon on Tuesday killing 12 people and wounding around 2,800, according to official figures.

Doctors in Lebanon spoke Wednesday of horrific eye injuries and finger amputations, a day after Hezbollah paging devices exploded across the country, killing 12 people and wounding up to 2,800.

"The injuries were mainly to the eyes and hands, with finger amputations, shrapnel in the eyes -- some people lost their sight," said doctor Joelle Khadra, who was working in emergency at Beirut's Hotel-Dieu hospital.

A second deadly wave of unprecedented explosions in the strongholds of Lebanon's Hezbollah left it in disarray on Thursday, hours before a major speech by its beleaguered leader Hassan Nasrallah.

The latest batch of device explosions killed 20 people and wounded more than 450 others on Wednesday, officials said, stoking fears of a full-blown war with Israel.

The blasts came a day after the simultaneous detonation of pagers used by Hezbollah killed 12 people, including two children, and wounded up to 2,800 others across Lebanon, in an unprecedented attack blamed on Israel.

A Taiwanese company and its Hungarian partner on Wednesday reportedly denied making pagers that exploded while being used by Hezbollah members in Lebanon.

The New York Times, citing American and other anonymous officials, reported that Israel had inserted explosive material into a shipment of pagers from Taiwan's Gold Apollo.

Taiwanese prosecutors launched an investigation.

Gold Apollo denied producing the devices and instead pointed the finger at its Budapest-based partner BAC Consulting KFT.

US Secretary of State Antony Blinken said Wednesday in Cairo that a ceasefire in the Israel-Hamas war in Gaza would be the best way to stop violence from spreading in the Middle East.

This marks Blinken's 10th trip to the region since the start of the war that was sparked by Hamas's October 7 attack on Israel.

His visit aimed to salvage stalled negotiations mediated by Egypt, Qatar and the United States to end the conflict.

No other regional stops, including Israel, were on his itinerary.

UN member states voted Wednesday to formally demand an end to the Israeli occupation of the Palestinian territories within 12 months and the imposition of sanctions for non-compliance.

The non-binding resolution, which Israel claimed would fuel violence, calling it "distorted" and "cynical," is based on an advisory opinion from the International Court of Justice (ICJ) saying the occupation since 1967 was "unlawful."

There were 124 votes in favor, 14 against and a notable 43 abstentions, with the Palestinian delegation heralding the adoption as "historic."

Each year the world produces around 400 million tonnes of plastic waste, much of it discarded after just a few minutes of use.

Negotiators hope to reach the world's first treaty on plastic pollution this year, but across five very different countries, AFP found single-use plastic remains hugely popular as a cheap and convenient choice, illustrating the challenges ahead:

Bangkok

On a Bangkok street lined with food vendors, customers line up for Maliwan's famed traditional sweets.