The 10 most important things in the world right now
1. A strong 6.2 magnitude earthquake struck central Italy, about 100 miles from Rome, in the early hours of Wednesday. The mayor of the small town of Amatrice said "half the town is gone" and a fire department spokesman said there have been "reports of victims."
2. An operation to wipe out ISIS militants along the Turkey-Syria border has been launched. The Turkish army began firing artillery rounds into the Syrian border town of Jarablus early Wednesday.
3. North Korea reportedly fired a submarine-based ballistic missile off the country's eastern coast near the city of Sinpo. The launch appears to be a protest against the annual military drill between Seoul and Washington, according to South Korea's Yonhap news agency.
4. Tesla will offer a new 100-kilowatt-hour battery option for the Model S and Model X cars. The new battery option will extend the range of the Model S to 315 miles per charge, making it the first electric car on the market to exceed 300 miles of range.
5. Hackers believed to be affiliated with Russia have attempted to hack reporters from The New York Times and other news outlets, CNN reported. The FBI and other US agencies are reportedly investigating the supposed hack.
6. Wikileaks has published the personal data of hundreds of innocent people in the last year, according to the Associated Press. The data includes the identities of rape survivors, sick children, and the mentally ill.
7. The UK is selling an old aircraft carrier, HMS Illustrious, for scrap after failing to repurpose the ship as a museum. The sale of Illustrious coincides with a decades-long decline in money and attention spent on maintaining the Royal Navy.
8. A new series of brain scans and ultrasound images shows how the Zika virus affects babies' brains. The scans suggest that Zika causes damage beyond microcephaly, which is characterized by an abnormally small head.
9. Donald Trump appears to have donated $100,000 (£75,892) to the Clinton Foundation based on a 2009 tax document circulated online, despite the US Republican presidential nominee's recent criticism of the organisation. Trump has called for an independent investigation of the foundation and accused his Democratic rival Hillary Clinton of running a "pay-to-play scheme" during her time as secretary of state that allegedly awarded donors with special treatment.
10. Univision will pay Gawker founder Nick Denton around $200,000 (£151,785) a year not to "associate with any business enterprise" doing the same thing as Gawker. Gawker was bought by Univision after the website lost a $140 million lawsuit brought by former wrestler Hulk Hogan and had to declare bankruptcy.
And finally ...