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Tel Aviv (AFP) – The US and Israel will hold talks on renewing a “global coalition” against Iran, Israeli Prime Minister Yair Lapid says as he welcoms President Joe Biden to the country. “We will discuss the need to renew a strong global coalition that will stop the Iranian nuclear programme,” Lapid says, moments after Air Force One touched down in Israel, starting Biden’s first tour of the Middle East as president. SOUNDBITE

Tel Aviv (AFP) – Israeli President Isaac Herzog, Prime Minister Yair Lapid and former prime minister Naftali Bennett receive US President Joe Biden upon his arrival at Tel Aviv’s Ben Gurion Airport as he starts his Middle East tour. 

Protesters gather and chant slogans on the grounds of Sri Lankan prime minister’s office in Colombo as the crisis-hit country declared an indefinite nationwide state of emergency on Wednesday.

Colombo (AFP) – Protesters gather and chant slogans on the grounds of Sri Lankan prime minister’s office in Colombo as the crisis-hit country declared an indefinite nationwide state of emergency on Wednesday.

Yogyakarta (Indonesia) (AFP) – As the morning twilight approaches in an Indonesian city famed for its street food scene, a queue of sleepy customers snakes its way along the road in anticipation of a local culinary legend. The clock hits 5 am in Yogyakarta and out of the darkness appears a small and frail sarong-clad woman on the back of a black motorbike. She climbs off slowly, tightly holding a basket that carries the sweet snacks she has been selling for more than half a century. Now 76 years old, Mbah Satinem was the Indonesian cultural hub’s best-kept secret for decades but is today a cooking sensation after shooting to fame in the 2019 Netflix series “Street Food: Asia”. 

Colombo (AFP) – Police fire tear gas at protesters mobbing the Prime minister’s residence in Colombo as crisis-hit Sri Lanka declared an indefinite nationwide state of emergency on Wednesday, hours after President Gotabaya Rajapaksa fled the country. IMAGES 

Colombo (AFP) – Sri Lankans take a dip in the pool and relax at the garden Wednesday in the colonial-era presidential palace which has embodied state authority for more than 200 years. It’s now become the island’s new symbol of people power. Sri Lanka’s embattled president flew out of the country to the Maldives early Wednesday, in a probable prelude to his resignation after months of widespread protests against his island nation’s worst-ever economic crisis. DURATION: 01:45

Suva (Fiji) (AFP) – The United States launched a major push into the Pacific on Wednesday, seeking to hold off China’s advance in the region, with Vice President Kamala Harris announcing $600 million in funding at a key regional summit. This would include a $60 million pledge for economic assistance to the Forum Fisheries Agency. DURATION: 01:09

Amsterdam (AFP) – A mysterious late-night ring of a doorbell has led to the recovery of what is believed to be one of the most sacred artefacts recently stolen from the Catholic Church, the Dutch art detective Arthur Brand says. Brand is known as the “Indiana Jones of the art world” for his remarkable recoveries of stolen art including a Picasso and a ring belonging to Oscar Wilde.

Korçë (Albania) (AFP) – In Albania, treasure hunters are plundering ancient cities left ruined in the mountains in search of priceless artefacts. Archaeologists worry that the looters are causing irreversible damage to the Balkan nation’s cultural heritage.