World News Roundup: Indonesia Prabowo's school meal programme to cost $7.7 billion in first year; Russia lacks ammunition production needed for Ukraine war, Western officials say and more

Following is a summary of current world news briefs.

Indonesia Prabowo's school meal programme to cost $7.7 billion in first year

A plan by Indonesia's likely new president Prabowo Subianto to provide free school lunches and milk will cost up to 120 trillion rupiah ($7.68 billion) in its first year, his team said on Wednesday. Prabowo has declared victory in last week's presidential election in the world's third biggest democracy, after quick ballot counts by independent pollsters in sample polling stations showed he had won nearly 60% of votes.

Protesting Spanish farmers drive hundreds of tractors to Madrid

Convoys of tractors disrupted traffic around the Spanish capital on Wednesday as farmers protesting against what they see as excessive red tape and insufficient state aid converged in downtown Madrid to march towards the Agriculture Ministry. Farmers have been protesting for weeks across European countries, most recently including Poland, Greece and the Czech Republic. They all call for a reduction of bureaucracy linked to the European Union's Common Agriculture Policy and a loosening of the bloc's environmental rules.

Senegal opposition says President Sall is too slow scheduling vote

Opposition candidates in Senegal's presidential election have accused the authorities of dragging their feet on setting a new date for the vote after a court ruled that a 10-month postponement was unlawful. President Macky Sall last week promised he would abide by the Constitutional Council's request for the vote to be scheduled as soon as possible.

Assange charged for 'indiscriminately' publishing sources' names, U.S. lawyers say

WikiLeaks founder Julian Assange is being prosecuted for publishing sources' names and not his political opinions, lawyers representing the United States said on Wednesday as Assange fights to stop his extradition from Britain. U.S. prosecutors are seeking to put Assange, 52, on trial over WikiLeaks' high-profile release of vast troves of confidential U.S. military records and diplomatic cables.

Pet dogs bring both joy and worry to displaced Gaza teenager

Keeping three dogs while living in a tent on a beach in Gaza complicates an already difficult situation, but the smile on teenager Hassan Abu Saman's face when he pets the animals shows that it's worth the trouble for him. A passionate dog lover since childhood, he had 16 of them before the Israel-Hamas war that has devastated the Gaza Strip, but managed to take just three of them, Mofaz, Lucy and Dahab, when he fled his home in Al-Nuseirat refugee camp in central Gaza.

Ukraine outnumbered, outgunned, ground down by relentless Russia

As the Ukraine war enters its third year, the infantry of 59th Brigade are confronting a bleak reality: they're running out of soldiers and ammunition to resist their Russian invaders.

One platoon commander who goes by his call sign "Tygr" estimated that just 60-70% of the several thousand men in the brigade at the start of the conflict were still serving. The rest had been killed, wounded or signed off for reasons such as old age or illness.

Russia lacks ammunition production needed for Ukraine war, Western officials say

Russia does not have sufficient domestic ammunition production to meet its needs in the Ukraine war, Western officials said on Wednesday, speaking on condition of anonymity.

Russia's military industry is also struggling with the impact of sanctions, the officials said, adding that the country's inability to access Western components was undermining its ability to produce new systems and repair old ones.

South Korea emergency units turn back patients as doctors protest

South Korea's biggest hospitals cancelled procedures and turned away patients seeking emergency care on Wednesday after thousands of trainee doctors walked off the job in protest at a government plan to boost medical school admissions. One hospital, the Asan Medical Center in Seoul, put up a sign saying its emergency unit was only handling cardiac arrest cases. The emergency departments at the other four hospitals were also on "red alert", according to a government bulletin, meaning they were running out of beds.

Israeli airstrike kills two people in Damascus, Syrian TV says

An Israeli airstrike hit a residential building in the Kafr Sousa district in Syria's capital Damascus on Wednesday, killing two people, Syrian state media and‮ ‬a security source said. A military source cited by Syrian state TV said the strike at about 9:40 a.m. (0640 GMT) wounded a number of other people, identifying the dead as civilians.

Russian capture of Avdiivka prompts departure of elderly in nearby towns

Russia's capture of Avdiivka in eastern Ukraine has alarmed people in nearby towns and many are now leaving for safer areas after hunkering down for months from constant hostile fire. Most of those fleeing are elderly. Having watched districts turn into rubble, they now see the 1000-km (600-mile) front line in the nearly two-year-old war moving ever closer.

(With inputs from agencies.)