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If and when the hostages held by Hamas in Gaza are released under any deal, they face the risk of lasting psychological trauma, experts warned, citing the suffering of people freed previously.

Reigning NBA champion Denver and the Boston Celtics, this year's leading NBA regular-season club, will meet in pre-season games next October in Abu Dhabi, the league announced on Wednesday.

Egypt secured an additional $5 billion in IMF loans on Wednesday, the two sides said, after the central bank hiked interest rates and allowed the pound to plunge by nearly 40 percent.

Mohamed Salah has given Liverpool a major boost after the Egypt star travelled to Sparta Prague for Thursday's Europa League clash following his recent injury lay-off.

Ukraine stepped up attacks behind Russian lines on Wednesday with the apparent killing of a Russian election official in a car bomb and a drone assault on a metals plant.

New York said Wednesday it would deploy National Guard troops and police across the city subway due to surging violence on the network serving the United States' largest metropolis.

US and European stock markets rose Wednesday and gold hit a record high as the Federal Reserve kept alive expectations of rate cuts later this year and the British government unveiled a pro-growth budget.

The EU is prepared to deploy its full arsenal to force big tech companies to change their behaviour online, the bloc's competition chief said Wednesday, the day before a sweeping new law comes into force.

Britain's beleaguered government on Wednesday announced a fresh tax cut for millions of workers as it tries to win round voters before a general election expected this year.

Chelsea women's boss Emma Hayes says the club have given their "full support" to Sam Kerr after the Australia striker pleaded not guilty to racially aggravated harassment of a police officer.

US lawmakers moved Wednesday to pressure TikTok to sever ties with its Chinese parent company ByteDance or face a ban, in a broader push to keep social media apps out of foreign adversaries' control.

The Kuwait-based Alshaya Group said on Wednesday it would cut jobs from its Starbucks Middle East franchise due to "challenging trading conditions" amid a boycott of Western brands over the Gaza war.

George Russell on Wednesday made clear he would welcome the challenge of having Max Verstappen as his Mercedes team-mate next year if the world champion left Red Bull to succeed Lewis Hamilton.

US lawmakers were set to vote Wednesday to end a long-running row over the federal budget with a giant bill to fund several major federal agencies through the fall, averting a partial shutdown due to start at the weekend.

Russia's "war crimes" in Ukraine have been recorded in tens of thousands of case files and it must answer them in court, the Ukrainian prosecutor general said in Brussels.

The US Federal Reserve's progress in bringing down inflation is "not assured," the chair of the country's central bank told lawmakers in Washington Wednesday, on the first of two days of hearings in Congress.

Bumblebees and chimpanzees can learn skills from their peers so complicated that they could never have mastered them on their own, an ability previously thought to be unique to humans, two studies said on Wednesday.

Bayern Munich were "delighted" that prodigious French teenager Mathys Tel had extended his contract by two years to 2029, the Bundesliga champions said in a statement on Wednesday.

Colombian Santiago Buitrago took the first mountain stage of Paris-Nice on Wednesday after an exhilarating finish in the Beaujolais wine-growing region that went down to the last kilometre.

Sea level rise could hit major US cities like New Orleans and San Francisco harder than expected by mid-century because coastal land is sinking, researchers said Wednesday, warning current flood defences leave people and property at risk.

Donald Trump marched Wednesday towards a bitter rematch against President Joe Biden in November as his final Republican rival Nikki Haley thew in the towel after a thumping defeat in the "Super Tuesday" primaries.

Egypt secured an extra $5 billion in IMF loans on Wednesday, the two sides said, after the central bank hiked interest rates and allowed the pound to plunge by nearly 40 percent.

Ukraine stepped up attacks behind Russian lines on Wednesday with the apparent killing of a Russian election official in a car bomb and a drone assault on a metals plant.

Scotland centre Huw Jones said Wednesday he had been "tempted" by a possible move to France before deciding to continue his club rugby career with Glasgow.

At least 8,565 people died on migration routes worldwide in 2023, making it the deadliest year since records began a decade ago, the United Nations said Wednesday.

US and European stock markets rose Wednesday as the Federal Reserve left the door open to easing interest rates and the British government announced tax cuts.

Donald Trump marched Wednesday towards an unprecedented rematch against President Joe Biden in November as his final Republican rival Nikki Haley looked set to throw in the towel after a thumping defeat in the "Super Tuesday" primaries.

Morocco experienced record heat this winter, including the hottest January since measurements began, the country's meteorological department told AFP, placing the blame on climate change.

A violent stand-off between local residents and squatters that invaded a field outside Bloemfontein starkly underlines the politics behind South Africa's housing crisis ahead of May's cliff-edge general election.

The head of the 2026 Winter Olympics' organising committee is convinced that a controversial bobsleigh track can be built with less than two years remaining until the sprawling Milan-Cortina Games start.

Thousands of angry farmers descended on the Polish capital on Wednesday to protest EU environmental rules and cheap imports from Ukraine and elsewhere outside the bloc.

Britain's embattled Conservative government on Wednesday announced a fresh tax cut for millions of workers to woo voters before a general election expected this year.