The United States has given Ukraine small arms ammunition that was seized while being transferred from Iranian forces to Tehran-backed rebels in Yemen, the military said Wednesday.

The move could presage the provision of more seized military gear to Ukraine at a time when Washington's ability to continue arming Kyiv has been called into question due to opposition from hardline Republican lawmakers.

"The US government transferred approximately 1.1 million 7.62mm rounds to the Ukrainian armed forces" on Monday, the military's Central Command (CENTCOM) said in a statement.

Saudi Arabia announced on Wednesday it plans to bid to host the 2034 World Cup, the latest step in a campaign to turn the kingdom into a global sports powerhouse.

The bid "intends to deliver a world-class tournament and will draw inspiration from Saudi Arabia's ongoing social and economic transformation and the country's deep-rooted passion for football", said a statement from the Saudi Arabian football federation.

An OPEC+ panel recommended Wednesday that the oil cartel keep its current output reduction strategy unchanged after heavyweights Saudi Arabia and Russia vowed to maintain their cuts to prop up prices.

Oil prices recovered in recent months and approached $100 per barrel last week as top producers Saudi Arabia and Russia have taken millions of barrels off the market.

Crude prices have eased in more recent days, however, as markets worry over a slowing economy and interest rates remaining high for longer in the United States and Europe.

A Turkish opposition TV channel editor on Wednesday walked free after being convicted in a high-profile trial over his on-air comments about jailed Kurdish insurgency leader Abdullah Ocalan.

Tele1 chief Merdan Yanardag could have been sentenced to more than 10 years in prison for spreading "terrorist propaganda" and "praising criminals" during one of his programmes in June.

An Istanbul court sentenced the 64-year-old to two-a-half-years in prison after finding him guilty of the propaganda charge.

In the ancient city of Jericho in the occupied West Bank, a prehistoric site has raised Palestinian hopes of a tourism boom after UNESCO declared it a World Heritage site.

Just a few dozen visitors braved the midday sun to stroll around Tell al-Sultan, where archaeologists have unearthed evidence of community life dating back about 10,000 years.

Passersby may not spot the inconspicuous mound tucked away on the edge of Jericho, but it drew international attention in September when it was added to UNESCO's World Heritage List.

At his farm in Syria's northeast, Abdullah al-Mohammed adjusts a large solar panel, one of hundreds that have cropped up over the years as farmers seek to stave off electricity shortages in the war-ravaged region.

Solar energy has offered a lifeline for the farmers amid drought and power shortages, but some warn the boom also has environmental costs in the once-fertile region.

"We are trying to revive our land," despite dwindling groundwater reserves, said Mohammed, 38, as he oriented the panel towards the sun near his cotton fields.

Swapping their state-enforced veils for T-shirts reading "life" and "liberty", a group of Iranian women who have fled to France now help make wine that traces its roots back to ancient Persia.

"We won't stop, we will keep fighting. The struggle against the mullahs, the Islamic republic, is going on here in a different way," said Marjan Jangjoo, her head bared to the rain in a vineyard in France's western Dordogne region.

"The revolution won't be done in a day, but it's on the move," she added.

On a Yemeni beach, a sea turtle clambers ashore to lay eggs, which will likely be born female due to rising temperatures, creating a gender imbalance that brings the threat of local extinction.

With sands made hotter by climate change, eggs are rarely yielding male turtles, which require cooler temperatures during the incubation period.

Studies in several coastal regions of southern Yemen "have shown that there are 90 percent more female sea turtles than males", said Jamal Baouzir, director of the biodiversity department at the University of Aden.

The new top US senator on foreign relations on Tuesday blocked some $235 million in military aid to Egypt over human rights concerns, after his predecessor was indicted in a scandal that touched on ties with Cairo.

Ben Cardin, chairman of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee, said he told Secretary of State Antony Blinken that his hold on funds "will remain until specific human rights progress is made."

Ten years after President Abdel Fattah al-Sisi rose to power in Egypt promising prosperity for all, he embarks on a third run for office as Egyptians buckle under unrelenting economic strain.

In July 2013, then-army chief Sisi, wearing his uniform and trademark dark glasses, went on television asking for "a mandate" to fight "terrorism" after the army toppled democratically elected but divisive Islamist president Mohamed Morsi.

The following month, security forces forcibly dispersed two pro-Morsi protest camps in Cairo in an operation that killed more than 700 people.