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The Rugby Football Union says it is "deeply disappointed" that South Africa hooker Bongi Mbonambi has been cleared of a racial slur and will play in Saturday's World Cup final.

In a sandy ravine outside Kyiv, a group of soldiers in camouflage were learning the basics of warfare -- in Russian.

With a drone camera, a survivor is spotted in the rubble. A robot on tracks brings him water while rescuers in exoskeletons clear an escape route for an autonomous stretcher to take her to safety.

A South Korean professor who challenged the consensus view of Japan's wartime sex slaves was acquitted of defaming the victims on Thursday, overturning an earlier verdict.

Asian stocks sank Thursday, tracking a retreat on Wall Street fuelled by a surge in US Treasuries and worries over a possible escalation of the Middle East crisis.

South Africa have named half-backs Handre Pollard and Faf de Klerk as well as hooker Bongi Mbonambi in their starting XV for the Rugby World Cup final against New Zealand on Saturday.

German carmaker Mercedes-Benz said Thursday that its profits fell in the third quarter due to a drop in vehicle deliveries amid shortages of some parts.

At the old Svea mine in the Arctic, broken railway tracks overgrown with weeds lead nowhere. Of the hundred buildings that once made up the town, there's almost nothing left.

Israel said Thursday that a column of tanks and infantry had launched an overnight raid into Hamas-controlled Gaza, striking "numerous" targets before retreating to home soil.

A Stockholm court will on Thursday hand down its verdict against a Russian-Swede accused of passing Western technology to Russia's military, with prosecutors seeking a five-year sentence.

A quarter of a century in the making, Greece's capital Athens on Thursday opens a museum honouring legendary soprano Maria Callas, billed as the first of its kind in the world.

Car drivers armed with a playlist of Celine Dion songs have been plaguing residents of a small New Zealand city for months on end with loud, late-night "siren battles".

At the cemetery in the town of Aguimes, on the Spanish island of Gran Canaria, plaques marked the burial vaults holding the remains of 15 migrants found dead on board a boat.

Cloaked in a black cape like the infamous count himself, 10-year-old Niklas Schuetz runs through the dark corridors of a hill-top castle in search of the truth about Dracula.

A massive manhunt was under way Thursday for a gunman who a local official said killed at least 22 people and wounded dozens more in mass shootings in the US state of Maine, the deadliest such incident this year.

President Recep Tayyip Erdogan will mark Turkey's centenary Sunday by honouring the post-Ottoman republic's revered founder, while chipping away at the foundation of his secular state.

French prodigy Victor Wembanyama scored 15 points on his much-anticipated NBA debut on Wednesday but it was not enough to prevent the San Antonio Spurs slipping to a 126-119 defeat to Dallas.

Aaron Smith will bow out of international rugby after the World Cup final against South Africa on Saturday, leaving a gaping hole at the heart of the All Blacks team.

Argentina play England in the Rugby World Cup's third-place play off on Friday with both sides licking their wounds from two very different semi-final losses and having already met during the tournament.

China sent a fresh crew to its Tiangong space station on Thursday, in the latest mission for a growing space programme that plans to send people to the Moon by 2030.

Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said Wednesday that Israel is readying a ground war in Gaza, pressing ahead with plans that have troubled allies and threaten to worsen an already cascading humanitarian crisis.

The shops have not yet opened, but the air-conditioned concourse of a Riyadh shopping mall is crowded anyway -- a haven for walkers and joggers grateful for somewhere cool to exercise.

Asian stocks sank Thursday, tracking a retreat on Wall Street fuelled by a surge in US Treasuries and worries over a possible escalation of the Middle East crisis, which also helped oil hold the previous day's rally.

Global carmaker Stellantis said Thursday it will buy a 20 percent stake in Chinese electric car maker Leapmotor, making it the latest European brand seeking a foothold in the country's highly competitive market via partnerships with local manufacturers.

European Central Bank policymakers are widely expected to leave interest rates unchanged when they meet in Athens on Thursday, as their previous policy moves seemed to be biting.

At least 22 people were killed and "many, many more" were injured in shootings in the city of Lewiston, Maine Wednesday evening, local officials reported, with police saying that the gunman was still at large.

US President Joe Biden and Australian Prime Minister Anthony Albanese toasted Wednesday their shared stand on Israel, Ukraine and China during a lavish state visit aimed at deepening their countries' century-old alliance.

EU leaders will on Thursday debate calling for a "humanitarian pause" in Israel's war with Hamas, as the bloc grapples with another conflict on its fringes alongside Russia's invasion of Ukraine.

Sergio Perez will be racing for his Red Bull future alongside runaway title winner Max Verstappen when he drives in front of an impassioned home crowd at this weekend's Mexican Grand Prix.

The US auto workers union reached a tentative agreement with Ford late Wednesday, a breakthrough in a 41-day stoppage on Detroit's "Big Three" car manufacturers.

US President Joe Biden called Wednesday for world leaders to develop plans for a "path toward peace" including two-state solution when the Israel-Hamas war is over.

Scientists in Brazil, the world's second-biggest consumer of cocaine, have announced the development of an innovative new treatment for addiction to the drug and its powerful derivative crack: a vaccine.