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Linda Noskova swept into her first Wimbledon final with a 6-4, 6-4 win over Marta Kostyuk on Thursday, setting up an all-Czech title match against Karolina Muchova.

Star forward Christian Pulisic fractured his leg during the United States' crushing 4-1 World Cup loss to Belgium, the team said Thursday.

England defender Jarell Quansah will miss Saturday's World Cup quarter-final against Norway, and the last four should the Three Lions progress, after being handed a two-game ban by FIFA.

Tour de France patron Tadej Pogacar is like basketball great Michael Jordan, according to his team principal Mauro Gianetti.

The UK on Thursday experienced its eighth day in 2026 with the mercury climbing above 34C, the Met Office said, breaking the previous record by one day.

Veteran former Argentina fly-half Benjamin Urdapilleta will come out of a retirement for a second time after signing a one-year contract extension with Perpignan, a source close to the French Top 14 club told AFP on Thursday.

Erling Haaland said facing England, the land of his birth, in the World Cup quarter-finals is extra special as the aims to extend Norway's historic run into the last four.

Faith Kipyegon will have the unlikely figure of French triathlete Cassandre Beaugrand in the field for the women's 3,000m at Monaco's Diamond League meet on Friday.

FIFA referees chief Pierluigi Collina has hit out at "unfounded allegations" against World Cup match officials in the wake of Argentina's controversial last 16 victory over Egypt.

Through more than four years of the Russian invasion, 27-year-old Oleksiy Virskovsky largely hasn't bothered going to to the underground shelter in the building next door -- despite almost nightly missile and drone attacks.

Calling for revenge and rejecting any compromise with the West, Iranians loyal to the Islamic republic braved sweltering heat on Thursday to mass for the burial of supreme leader Ali Khamenei in his hometown of Mashhad.

Tributes flooded in Thursday to Welsh singer Bonnie Tyler, best known for her powerful, haunting love song "Total Eclipse of the Heart", after she died in hospital in Portugal. She was 75.

Serial world record setter Armand 'Mondo' Duplantis has spent countless hours batting away questions about how he stays motivated in the men's pole vault.

Sales of previously owned homes in the United States dropped in June, according to industry data released Thursday, as affordability worries continued to weigh on property buyers.

Czech 10th seed Karolina Muchova saved a match point to reach her first Wimbledon final with a pulsating three-set win against Coco Gauff on Thursday.

Around 1.6 million young Ukrainians are being forced by Russia into a system of military indoctrination that could amount to a crime against humanity, according to OSCE-mandated independent experts.

What does a world leader do with a gun and six bullets? That was the conundrum NATO leaders faced after the Turkish president offered them each a revolver after the Ankara summit.

The El Nino weather pattern picked up strength over the past month and is highly likely to "rank among the largest" ever recorded when it peaks between October and December, US forecasters said Thursday.

The World Cup has sparked a surge of interest in football -- or soccer as most New Yorkers call it -- but exposed a shortage of pitches in the city for both established players and converts to the beautiful game.

Jorge Jesus is set to be appointed Portugal coach after Roberto Martinez stepped down in the wake of their World Cup exit, a source told AFP on Thursday.

Fendi celebrates the first haute couture show by newly seated designer Maria Grazia Chiuri in its home city of Rome on Thursday, along with a homage to longtime couturier Karl Lagerfeld.

The Ebola outbreak in Democratic Republic of Congo is the "fastest growing" ever, African health authorities said Thursday, as the World Health Organization said it had killed 600 people.

Stock markets were steadier Thursday as investors rediscovered their appetite for tech stocks and largely ignored sabre-rattling between the United States and Iran.

What does a world leader do with a gun and six bullets? That was the conundrum NATO leaders faced after the Turkish president offered them each a revolver after the Ankara summit.

Hong Kong resident Joe Lam was finally able to sit with his pet poodle Glutinous Rice inside an air-conditioned cafe on Thursday, as the city allowed dogs to enter restaurants for the first time in decades.

Volkswagen workers staged protests nationwide Thursday as unions warned of "major conflict" if the struggling German car giant pushes ahead with what could be the global auto industry's biggest restructuring.

England have recalled Henry Slade for their crucial Nations Championship clash against Fiji in Liverpool on Saturday as coach Steve Borthwick bids to avoid a sixth straight defeat.

New fighting erupted between the United States and Iran hours ahead of the burial of longtime supreme leader Ali Khamenei on Thursday, with Tehran targeting US allies in the region and American strikes hitting the perimeter of an Iranian nuclear power plant.

The world's chemical weapons watchdog reinstated Syria on Thursday, noting a "significant change in circumstances" since the fall of Bashar al-Assad and "concrete steps" to dismantle his deadly stockpile of banned substances.

Harlequins lock Guido Petti will become the sixth Argentina player to reach 100 caps when he starts against Wales in the Nations Championship this weekend in San Juan, the Argentine Rugby Union announced on Thursday.

Barry Callebaut, one of the world's biggest chocolate makers, signalled Thursday that chocoholics are starting to replenish their stocks after being stung by inflation.

French skipper Alexia Barrier is set to make history when she competes in the transatlantic single-handed Route du Rhum yacht race in November.

Two thirds of the European Union's population may have been exposed to harmful levels of ozone pollution during last month's record-breaking heatwave, a report exclusively shared with AFP warned Thursday.

Oil prices, stock markets and the dollar were steadier Thursday as investors assessed the outlook for Middle East peace efforts after the US and Iran exchanged fresh strikes.

The Russian athletics federation announced Thursday they will appeal to the Court of Arbitration for Sport (CAS) challenging World Athletics extending the blanket ban on their track and field athletes.

Italy on Thursday ordered the expulsion of two Russian military attaches accused of spying, with its foreign minister condemning "serious and unacceptable acts of interference" by Moscow.

The Ebola outbreak in the Democratic Republic of Congo has now claimed 600 lives, figures published by the World Health Organization showed Thursday -- only three days after the figure topped 500.

German exports unexpectedly rose in May, their fourth straight monthly increase, official data showed Thursday, as Europe's biggest economy defied headwinds from the Iran war.

The United States and Iran traded new strikes on Thursday that killed several people in the Islamic republic as Iranian authorities prepared for the burial of longtime supreme leader Ali Khamenei.