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Even small delays in Japan's much-vaunted bullet trains are rare, and more unusual still are snakes on board holding up the speedy "shinkansen" services.

Atalanta have a chance to make history on Thursday as they welcome Liverpool to Bergamo with one foot in the Europa League semi-finals thanks to a stunning first-leg win at Anfield.

Hours after sealing Bayer Leverkusen's maiden Bundesliga title win, coach Xabi Alonso told thousands of delirious fans "we want more", laying down a marker in pursuit of a remarkable treble.

Jurgen Klopp was headed for a glorious send-off in his final season at Liverpool just a few weeks ago, but talk of a potential quadruple is now long forgotten as the Reds have come off the rails.

The United Nations Security Council will vote Thursday on the Palestinians' application to become a full UN member state, several diplomatic sources have told AFP.

Asian markets fluctuated Wednesday as Federal Reserve boss Jerome Powell's indication that interest rates could stay higher for longer offset a rebound following the latest bout of Middle East-fuelled selling.

LeBron James and the Los Angeles Lakers held off a furious late rally to beat the New Orleans Pelicans 110-106 on Tuesday and book a first-round NBA playoff clash with the defending champion Denver Nuggets.

Around 130 million young adults aged 18 to 22 will be newly eligible to vote in India's national elections when polls open Friday -- more people than the entire population of Mexico.

Boeing is expected to face a bruising once-over Wednesday as company critics testify at a US Senate hearing, including an employee who has characterized the top-selling 787 as prone to disaster.

In brick buildings that are more than a century old in Joe Biden's Rust Belt hometown of Scranton, Pennsylvania, dated machinery continues to churn out machinery for modern conflicts -- especially the war in Ukraine.

Even though the United Nations voted last year to observe the Olympic Truce, the Paris Games will still be held under the shadow of international conflict.

Peeling onions in her new home, Yodgoroy Makhmaliyeva recalled the terrifying moment four years ago when a landslide buried her family home in mountainous Tajikistan.

Formula One returns to China for the first time in five years this week with a packed programme including a Saturday sprint race, but not everyone is happy with the Shanghai schedule.

India's opposition faces huge challenges as their loose coalition of more than two dozen parties take on the juggernaut of Prime Minister Narendra Modi's ruling party.

Take-Two Interactive on Tuesday told US regulators it is trimming its workforce by five percent and eliminating some video games in production to cut costs.

Volkswagen employees in Tennessee will begin casting ballots Wednesday in a vote that could make theirs the first foreign carmaker to unionize in the American South, expanding gains made by organized labor in the auto heartland of Detroit.

Leonardo Muylaert was just another mild-mannered professional on vacation with his girlfriend when the 36-year-old Brazilian went viral on social media thanks to an unexpected superpower that has changed his life: his uncanny resemblance to Superman.

Terrified onlookers crouch behind a wall as lights streak across the night sky in what self-proclaimed digital investigators claimed was footage of Iranian drones over Israel. But the video is months old, repurposed to sow misinformation.

The frontrunner in Panama's presidential election vowed Tuesday to block US-bound migrants from crossing the lawless jungle straddling his country's border with Colombia and to begin deportations.

A top US university has canceled its plans for a graduation speech by a Muslim student over what it says are safety concerns, after pro-Israel groups criticized her selection.

Australia's spectacular Great Barrier Reef is experiencing its worst bleaching event on record, the country's reef authority reported on Wednesday.

Venezuela's President Nicolas Maduro said Tuesday he had ordered the closure of his country's diplomatic missions in Ecuador after a raid on the Mexican embassy in Quito.

Bumblebees can surprisingly withstand days underwater, according to a study published Wednesday, suggesting they could withstand increased floods brought on by climate change that threaten their winter hibernation burrows.

Paris Saint-Germain's emphatic victory over Barcelona keeps alive the French club's dream of ending the Kylian Mbappe era by lifting the Champions League trophy at Wembley in June.

Former All Blacks and Wallabies skills sage Mick Byrne has been named head coach of Fiji and will switch later this year from his current role in charge of the Fijian Drua Super Rugby team.

Solomon Islanders began voting Wednesday in an election that could reshape regional security, with citizens effectively choosing if their Pacific nation will deepen ties with China.

The United States said Tuesday it would soon impose new sanctions on Iran's missile and drone program after its weekend attack on Israel, and that it expects its allies and partners to follow with parallel measures.

Silicon Valley venture capital star Andreessen Horowitz said Tuesday it had raised $7.2 billion to invest in startups behind games, apps, artificial intelligence and more.

Milwaukee Bucks coach Doc Rivers said Tuesday it's not yet clear if two-time NBA Most Valuable Player Giannis Antetokounmpo will be available for the team's playoff opener against the Indiana Pacers on Sunday.

Colombia has halted electricity exports to neighboring Ecuador as its hydropower plants reach near-critical levels due to a biting drought, the government in Bogota said.

Joe Biden made a campaign trip to his beloved birthplace Tuesday in Scranton, Pennsylvania, where he unleashed a blistering condemnation of Donald Trump as the tycoon languished in court.

European Central Bank president Christine Lagarde suggested Tuesday that the regulator could lower interest rates before a similar move by the US Federal Reserve, saying "we are not Fed-dependent."