The Netherlands will join next year's Eurovision despite the disqualification of this year's Dutch candidate and fan-favourite Joost Klein, who has declined an offer to take part in 2025, Dutch broadcaster AVROTROS said late on Wednesday."Joost Klein was offered the chance to participate again. But in the end, he chose to decline this offer," the broadcaster said.AVROTROS had previously expressed doubts about participating in next year’s Eurovision after Klein was disqualified from the event, which was held in Sweden, following a complaint from a female crew member.Swedish prosecutors dropped their investigation in August, citing differing perceptions of Klein's hand movement.The Netherlands has decided to compete next year, as the organisers, the European Broadcasting Union (EBU), have guaranteed they will make structural changes, AVROTROS said.

Republican presidential candidate Donald Trump said on Thursday that if elected he would fire the federal prosecutor investigating whether he tried to overturn his 2020 election defeat.Former president Trump, asked during an interview whether he would pardon himself or fire Special Counsel Jack Smith, said: "It's so easy. I would fire him within two seconds."Trump added: "No I don't think they would impeach me if I fired Jack Smith." He was speaking with conservative podcast host Hugh Hewitt.Smith is leading the federal criminal case accusing Trump of election subversion in the 2020 vote that President Joe Biden, a Democrat, won.

A grenade explosion killed at least one person and injured 10 others in a busy central Kabul market on Wednesday, the interior ministry said."The perpetrator has had one of his legs amputated and is now under detention, receiving treatment, and being investigated by the security forces," the spokesman for Afghanistan's Ministry of the Interior, Abdul Mateen Qaniee, told Reuters.It was not immediately clear if the incident was an attack.

Hezbollah said in a statement, published via its operations room on Wednesday, it used "precision missiles" and new types of drones for the first time in their clashes against Israeli troops.The group said it had been able to push back Israeli troops in clashes in several border villages in southern Lebanon.

The United States said for the first time on Wednesday that it had seen evidence that North Korea has sent 3,000 troops to Russia for possible deployment in Ukraine, a move that could mark a significant escalation in Russia's war against its neighbor.US Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin, speaking in Rome, said it would be "very, very serious" if the North Koreans were preparing to fight alongside Russia in Ukraine, as Kyiv has alleged. But he said it remained to be seen what they would be doing there."There is evidence that there are DPRK troops in Russia," Austin told reporters, using North Korea's formal name, the Democratic People's Republic of Korea.Speaking to reporters later on Wednesday White House spokesperson John Kirby said the United States believes at least 3,000 North Korean troops are undergoing training at three military bases in eastern Russia."If they do deploy to fight against Ukraine, they're fair game," he said. "They're fair targets and the Ukrainian military will defend themselves against North Korean soldiers the same way they're defending themselves against Russian soldiers."

Turkey has hit outlawed Kurdistan Workers Party (PKK) targets in northern Iraq and northern Syria after a deadly attack on an aviation site in Ankara, the Defence Ministry said on Wednesday.Perpetrators of the attack in Ankara were highly likely PKK members, Interior Minister Ali Yerlikaya said earlier.

US Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin told his Israeli counterpart on Wednesday that Washington had deep concerns about reports of strikes against the Lebanese armed forces, the Pentagon said in a statement.Austin also urged Israeli Defense Minister Yoav Gallant to make sure Israel takes steps to ensure the safety and security of the Lebanese armed forces and the UN peacekeeping mission in Lebanon, the Pentagon said after their call.