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Charles Leclerc powered to the quickest time ahead of Oscar Piastri in second practice at the season-opening Australian Grand Prix on Friday, with Lewis Hamilton fifth and Max Verstappen only seventh.

China urged an end to "illegal" sanctions on Iran as it hosted diplomats from that country and Russia on Friday for talks Beijing hopes will restart long-stalled negotiations on Tehran's nuclear programme.

China hosted Russian and Iranian diplomats on Friday for talks Beijing hopes will restart long-stalled negotiations on Tehran's nuclear program.

Ireland have a glimmer of hope that they can retain their Six Nations crown on Saturday when they take on Italy in Rome, looking to bounce back from a painful defeat to title favourites France.

Rodrigo Duterte's first appearance at the International Criminal Court has been set for Friday, the court said, as the former Philippines president faces crimes against humanity charges over his deadly war on drugs.

The ocean covers nearly three-quarters of our planet but scientists say we have barely scratched the surface of what lives in our seas.

Golden State Warriors star Stephen Curry became the first NBA player ever to score 4,000 three-pointers on Thursday, extending his runaway lead as the greatest long-range shooter in basketball history in a blowout victory over the Sacramento Kings.

More than a century ago, Pablo Picasso smashed the Sacre-Coeur Basilica in Paris into a web of tangled lines on his canvas, deconstructing reality with the brushstrokes of a master cubist.

Two-time defending champion Carlos Alcaraz fought off determined challenger Francisco Cerundolo 6-3, 7-6 (7/4) on Thursday to reach the semi-finals of the Indian Wells ATP Masters.

Chinese, Russian and Iranian diplomats met Friday for talks, state media said, in a meeting Beijing hopes could restart long-stalled negotiations on Tehran's nuclear program.

England batsman Harry Brook has been banned from the Indian Premier League for two years after he pulled out at the last minute to focus on international cricket, local media reported Friday.

Golden State Warriors star Stephen Curry became the first NBA player ever to score 4,000 three-pointers on Thursday, extending his runaway lead as the greatest long-range shooter in basketball history.

It's late morning and steam is rising from water tanks atop the colourful but opaque-windowed "soapland" sex parlours in a historic Tokyo red-light district.

An American influencer who outraged Australians by snatching a baby wombat from its apparently distressed mother flew out of the country Friday, the government said.

Nepali police officer Jiwan Subba still feels pangs of regret decades after he bludgeoned a strange creature he found wandering in his barn, not realising it was an endangered red panda.

Lando Norris fired a warning shot to outpace world champion Max Verstappen and top the timesheets in first practice for the season-opening Australian Grand Prix on Friday, with Lewis Hamilton 12th on his Ferrari debut.

Luka Doncic scored a game-high 45 points but could not prevent the Los Angeles Lakers from slumping to a third straight defeat in a 126-106 pounding by the Milwaukee Bucks in the NBA on Thursday.

Asian investors fought Friday to grind out gains at the end of a painful week for markets as they welcomed signs US lawmakers will avert a government shutdown but remained fearful over Donald Trump's trade war.

Minutes after former Philippine leader Rodrigo Duterte was bundled onto a plane bound for The Hague to face a charge of crimes against humanity, President Ferdinand Marcos said of the arrest: "Politics doesn't enter into it."

Two Japanese tourists in their 20s were detained for two weeks in China then deported for taking photos showing exposed buttocks at the Great Wall, local media reported.

Defending champion Iga Swiatek beat Zheng Qinwen 6-3, 6-3 on Thursday, avenging her Olympics semi-final loss to the Paris Games gold medallist to reach the last four at Indian Wells.

Lionel Messi came off the bench and scored as Inter Miami eased into the quarter-finals of the CONCACAF Champions Cup with a 2-0 win at Jamaica's Cavalier earning them a 4-0 win on aggregate.

More than a million people have fled Myanmar's brutal civil war to seek shelter and work in neighbouring Thailand, where experts say nationalists are using disinformation to fuel prejudice against them.

A France side brimming with confidence host Scotland on Saturday with a second Six Nations title of head coach Fabien Galthie's rollercoaster tenure on the line.

Hansi Flick used an expletive to describe Barcelona's poor performance during November, and December was equally bad, with Atletico Madrid's win before Christmas helping them usurp the Catalans at the top of the table.

Manchester City face a crucial clash with Brighton as the pressure mounts in the race to finish in the Premier League's top four.

Marseille travel to Paris Saint-Germain this weekend for French football's biggest fixture, which threatens to remind them of the enormous gulf now separating the two great rivals.

England head into their Six Nations finale against Wales in Cardiff on Saturday knowing a bonus-point win will give them their best chance of a first championship title in five years.

Rules for the emerging deep-sea mining sector should take a "precautionary approach" that protects the environment, the head of the body drafting regulations for the practice told AFP Friday.

Prestigious US university Johns Hopkins said Thursday it will lay off more than 2,000 employees around the world in the aftermath of the Trump administration's massive reduction in foreign aid funds.

Mirra Andreeva's rise in the WTA rankings has accelerated so quickly that the 17-year-old Russian can't keep track.

Rory McIlroy kept quiet on Thursday about a practice-round incident at The Players Championship in which he took a heckler's phone, a critic who later apologized to the four-time major champion.