Hamas said Wednesday that "new conditions" imposed by Israel had delayed the finalisation of a ceasefire agreement in Gaza, but acknowledged that negotiations were still proceeding.

The suicide by a train driver on the job has caused widespread delays in France's rail traffic, operator SNCF said Wednesday.

Thirty-eight people were killed when an Azerbaijan Airlines plane with 67 on board crashed in Kazakhstan on Wednesday, a senior Kazakh official said.

Angry protests broke out Wednesday in several areas of Syria after a video circulated showing an attack on an Alawite shrine in the country's north, a war monitor and witnesses said.