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BUENOS AIRES, Argentina (AP) — President Javier Milei suffered a judicial blow Wednesday as a court suspended labor rule changes he recently announced as part of sweeping deregulation and austerity measures aimed at reviving Argentina's struggling economy.

The ruling by a three-judge court came on a legal challenge brought by the main union group, the General Labor Confederation, which argued that the changes affected workers rights.

ARGENTINA'S MILEI CUTS 5,000 GOVERNMENT JOBS, WILL NOT RENEW CONTRACTS

Milei's decree announced in December established several changes in labor rules, including increasing job probation from three to eight months, reducing severance compensation and allowing the possibility of dismissal for workers taking part of blockades during some protests.

Alejandro Sudera, one of the three judges, said the administration went beyond its authority to decree labor changes, which first needed to discussed and approved by Congress.

Milei's government said it would appeal the court's ruling.

The union confederation applauded the court, saying the decision "puts a stop to the regressive and anti-worker labor reform."

Labor activists have questioned whether Milei, a self-described anarcho-capitalist who has long railed against the country’s "political caste," can impose the measures using emergency decree bypass the legislature.

On Dec. 20, a few days after taking office as the new president, Milei announced sweeping initiatives to transform Argentina’s economy, including easing government regulation and allowing privatization of state-run industries. The libertarian economist made about 300 changes.

The measures have stirred protests in Buenos Aires, Argentina's capital.

Since his inauguration Dec. 10, Milei has devalued the country’s currency by 50%, cut transport and energy subsidies, and said his government won’t renew contracts for more than 5,000 state employees hired before he took office.

He says he wants to transform Argentina’s economy and reduce the size of the state to address rising poverty and annual inflation expected to reach 200% by the end of the year.

A sign directed the animals to line up to be counted and several of the 74 Humboldt penguins did just that, waiting patiently Wednesday to be tallied in the London Zoo's annual census.

Not all the animals were as obedient.

Crispin, an endangered Sumatran tiger cub, treated a chalk board like cat nip, gnawing on it playfully in its powerful jaws while being counted with three others.

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Over two days, about 14,000 animals will be accounted for — everything from alpacas to zebras — as a requirement of the zoo's license. Information from the count will be shared with zoos around the world to help manage breeding programs of endangered species.

The count will note some of the new additions to its menagerie in the past year: a little two-toed sloth and 17 chicks hatched in its birdhouse that included six Socorro doves, which are extinct in the wild.

"The keepers have got lots of tricks up their sleeve to be able to count these animals," zoological operations manager Dan Simmonds said.

Kim Carter had no trouble registering Priscilla, Polly and Dolly, Galapagos giant tortoises. Becca Keefe added zebras Kabibi, Kianga and Spot to the list. Sam Aberdeen showed off a Seychelles giant millipede wrapped around his hand — lucky to be counting only the critter and not its many legs.

SANTO DOMINGO, Dominican Republic (AP) — Dominican prosecutors investigating Wander Franco amid allegations that the Tampa Bay Rays shortstop had a relationship with a minor delivered evidence Wednesday to a judge who is expected to soon rule on the player’s future.

The judge is scheduled to analyze the documents and other evidence collected during a monthslong investigation and issue a ruling Friday in a courtroom in the northern Dominican Republic province of Puerto Plata, where the alleged act occurred.

RAYS' WANDER FRANCO ARRESTED AMID INVESTIGATION INTO ALLEGED RELATIONSHIPS WITH MINORS: REPORTS

The judge has several options: release Franco on bond, temporarily arrest him, prevent him from leaving the Dominican Republic or demand that he make occasional appearances until the investigation or a trial has ended.

The 22-year-old All-Star player remains in jail for now after being detained on Monday in Puerto Plata.

His attorney, Teodosio Jáquez Encarnación, has declined to talk to the press, saying only that Franco is doing fine.

Prosecutors also have declined comment.

Authorities have not shared details of the case, although prosecutors said on Aug. 14 that Franco was being investigated because of social media postings suggesting he had a relationship with a minor. The AP has not been able to verify the reported posts.

On Dec. 26, police and prosecutors visited two of Franco’s properties located in his hometown of Baní, just southwest of the capital of Santo Domingo, but the player was not there.

On Dec. 28, a prosecutor requested that Franco appear, but he did not do so until Monday, when he was detained following a nearly three-hour interview.

Major League Baseball placed Franco on administrative leave in August under its joint domestic violence, sexual assault and child abuse policy with the players’ association. He was paid and received service time while on leave.

There is no timetable for a conclusion of the MLB's investigation and whether the results might lead to discipline by the organization.

Former President Ernest Bai Koroma has been charged with treason for his alleged involvement in a failed coup attempt in November, Sierra Leone's government said Wednesday.

Koroma has also been charged with misprision of treason, which is the crime of concealing knowledge of treasonable acts, according to a statement from the ministry of information and civic education.

SIERRA LEONE QUESTIONS FORMER PRESIDENT OVER COUP ATTEMPT

On Nov. 26, dozens of gunmen launched an attack in the West African nation’s capital of Freetown during which they broke into Sierra Leone’s key armory and into a prison where the majority of the more than 2,000 inmates were freed.

At least 18 members of the security forces were killed during the clashes. More than 50 suspects, including military officers, have been arrested so far.

The charges against Koroma were announced a day after a dozen people were charged with similar offenses in connection with the failed coup.

Although he has officially retired from politics, Koroma remains an influential figure within his political party and often hosts prominent politicians in his hometown of Makeni.

There have been political tensions in Sierra Leone since President Julius Maada Bio was reelected for a second term in a disputed vote in June. Two months after he was reelected, police said they arrested several people, including senior military officers, for allegedly planning to use protests "to undermine peace."

Authorities in Argentina have arrested three men, including a Syrian national, in Buenos Aires and surrounding areas on suspicion of being part of a terror cell, the government announced Wednesday.

Security Minister Patricia Bullrich did not disclose the identity of the men — who were detained over the weekend — but released images of the suspects with their faces blurred.

ARGENTINA'S MILEI CUTS 5,000 GOVERNMENT JOBS, WILL NOT RENEW CONTRACTS

In a statement issued hours before, the ministry said that one of those arrested was a Syrian national who carried passports from Venezuela and Colombia bearing his name. The nationalities of the other two men were not disclosed, but Bullrich said the men previously had used documents of various nationalities.

"We do not know if their names are the real ones," Bullrich told reporters.

Bullrich said that authorities had been on high alert as Buenos Aires hosts the Pan-American Maccabi Games, bringing together thousands of Jewish athletes from different countries, and as the Israel-Hamas war rages on in the Gaza Strip.

Bullrich said that the three men arrived in Argentina on different flights and that they had booked a hotel "two blocks from the Israeli Embassy." She added that the suspects were waiting for "a package that came from Yemen," raising suspicions from authorities.

Argentina was the scene of one of the largest attacks against the Jewish community in Latin America. In 1992 a bomb exploded at the Israeli Embassy killing 29 people.

Two years later a car bomb destroyed a cultural Jewish center, killing 85 in the nation’s capital. Prosecutors have said Iranian agents were behind the attacks, a claim Iran has denied.

One soldier was killed and 12 were injured Wednesday in an attack with explosives on a military unit in western Colombia that the army blamed on the notorious Gulf Clan drug cartel.

The attack occurred early Wednesday in a military facility in the municipality of Turbo, about 300 miles northwest of Bogota, Colombia's capital, the Defense Ministry said in a news release.

The ministry attributed the attack to a faction of the Gulf Clan, considered by authorities to be the country's largest active drug cartel. The army has been carrying out operations against the group.

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The governor of Antioquia, where Turbo is located, offered a reward of almost $12,800 for information leading to the capture the leader of the faction, identified by authorities as Wilder de Jesús Alcaraz, alias "El Indio."

Colombia's President Gustavo Petro has been looking to cement a "total peace" plan in the South American country by negotiating peace agreements with all of its armed groups, including leftists guerrillas and trafficking organizations.

The government has ongoing peace negotiations with several different organizations, but has had difficulty holding talks with the Gulf Clan. Last year, the government and the group agreed to a cease-fire, but the authorities halted conversations after accusing the drug cartel of being behind attacks during a mining protest, and the army restarted military operations against it.

In December, six soldiers died and six others were injured in an attack that the government attributed to dissidents from Colombia’s once largest rebel movement, the Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia, or FARC.

The head of Hezbollah threatened Israel Wednesday, saying the Lebanese terrorist group is not afraid of war following a drone strike Tuesday that killed a senior Hamas leader in Beirut.

Hezbollah leader Sayyed Hassan Nasrallah called the killing of Saleh Arouri, the founder of Hamas' military wing, a "flagrant Israeli aggression" and "a major, dangerous crime about which we cannot be silent" during a televised speech reported by Reuters.

Nasrallah reportedly addressed Israeli Defense Minister Yoav Gallant, saying the Jewish state "will not succeed in achieving the war's goals."

TOP HAMAS OFFICIAL KILLED IN BEIRUT EXPLOSION, HEZBOLLAH MEDIA SAYS

If Israel chose to start a war on Lebanon, Nasrallah said there would be "no ceilings" and "no rules" for Hezbollah.

"Whoever thinks of war with us, in one word, he will regret it," Nasrallah said.

A drone struck an apartment in Lebanon's capital Tuesday and killed Arouri, prompting worries of retaliation by Lebanon's Hezbollah. Hezbollah-linked news outlets reported that an Israeli air strike killed the deputy Hamas leader.

Israeli officials have denied involvement in the strike but noted the "surgical" precision of the attack.

"Israel has not taken responsibility for this attack," Ambassador Mark Regev, a Netanyahu adviser, told MSNBC. "But whoever did it must be clear that this was not an attack on the Lebanese state.

"It was not even an attack on Hezbollah terrorist organization," he added. "Whoever did this did a surgical strike against the Hamas leadership."

The airstrike marked the first hit on Beirut after three months of crossfire between the Israeli military and Hezbollah.

The Iran-backed terrorist group launched rockets across the border Oct. 8 in support of Hamas' deadly attack on southern Israel the previous day, which sparked the latest ongoing conflict in the Middle East.

Since the outbreak of violence, the Israeli government has redoubled efforts targeting key Hamas leaders in an attempt to cripple the terrorist organization from the top.

EU FOREIGN POLICY CHIEF FEARS 'OPEN WAR' AND ESCALATION FOLLOWING DEATH OF HAMAS LEADER: 'CANNOT BE RULED OUT'

Nasrallah said Hezbollah's "quick" attack Oct. 8 and firing across international boundary lines prevented Israel from attacking Lebanon, claiming the Israeli military's defense abilities "had collapsed."

Israeli Defense Forces Chief of Staff Lt. Gen. Herzi Halevi told security officials Wednesday the military was in a "very strong state of readiness in the north."

"There is a lot of expertise, great capabilities and high morale," Halevi said. "We are in very high readiness in all sectors, and we are currently focusing on fighting Hamas." 

Halevi spoke during a situational assessment at the northern border with MG Ori Gordin, the commanding officer of the Northern Command; BG Zion Ratzonthe, commanding officer of the 210th Division; and the brigade and battalion commanders from the reserve units guarding the sector.

The IDF official signaled significant changes in terms of general regional stability, routine defense measures and the posturing of more soldiers on the borders for the next year.

"Because this event, as hard as it is, and we will talk about it a lot more — we could have known, we couldn't have known — it cannot repeat itself, that's for sure," Halevi said. "And we need to provide a very, very strong response to this matter.

"I'm telling you, in our decisions, I know that there is a trained, prepared, ready force, with a lot of spirit," he added. "And we are going with that. That's our security — we don't have anything stronger than that. That's the best."

The foreign policy chief at the European Union said Wednesday that the drone strike this week that killed Arouri could escalate the Israel-Hamas conflict into an "open war" across the Middle East.

"The risk that what happened in 2006 could happen again — an open war — is a risk that unfortunately cannot be ruled out. And what happened yesterday with the death of one of the leaders of Hamas is yet another factor that could push the conflict to escalate," EU Foreign Policy Chief Josep Borrell said during a news conference in Lisbon.

In 2006, Israel fought a 34-day war with Hezbollah between July and August. Israel lost an estimated 120 soldiers during the fighting, while Hezbollah lost more than 1,000 fighters.

Reuters and Fox News Digital reporters Timothy H.J. Nerozzi and Greg Norman contributed to this report.