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Pakistan skipper Babar Azam said on Thursday his team's latest Test hero Saud Shakeel had stepped up his game and showcased new shots in his match-winning unbeaten 208 against Sri Lanka.

Shops and schools in Kenya reopened on Thursday despite a fresh round of opposition protests that have led to deadly clashes and sparked appeals for dialogue to end the crisis.

Hong Kong national security police detained four people Thursday, including the brother of prominent activist Dennis Kwok -- one of eight fugitives with bounties on their heads for allegedly breaching national security.

Faith Kipyegon has made an astonishing return to the track after the "journey" of having her first child with the Kenyan bagging two world records and underlining her status as the world's best 1500m runner.

Co-hosts Australia suffered a major setback Thursday with captain and star striker Sam Kerr ruled out of at least their first two Women's World Cup games with a calf injury.

Hannah Wilkinson scored the only goal as co-hosts New Zealand recorded a historic 1-0 victory over Norway in the opening game of the Women's World Cup on Thursday.

A Hong Kong man was sentenced to three months in prison on Thursday for insulting China's national anthem by swapping it in an online sports video with a song from the city's 2019 democracy protests.

A moment's silence was held before the first game of the Women's World Cup on Thursday to mourn the two people shot dead in host city Auckland just hours earlier.

Hundreds of Iraqi protesters stormed and set fires inside Sweden's embassy compound in Baghdad early Thursday, angered by an expected burning of the Koran later in the day in Stockholm.

British airline EasyJet on Thursday said it expected record pre-tax profits during the current peak summer season despite strike action by air traffic controllers and other disruptions.

An Australian sailor rescued with a stray dog after more than two months adrift on the Pacific Ocean has decided to leave his canine companion in Mexico with the captain of the ship that saved them.

Chinese leader Xi Jinping hailed former US secretary of state Henry Kissinger as an "old friend" as the two met in Beijing on Thursday.

Markets were mixed Thursday as hopes that central banks are close to ending their interest rate hikes were offset by worries about a lack of action by Chinese leaders to kickstart the country's stuttering economy.

Thailand's caretaker prime minister Prayut Chan-o-cha called for calm Thursday after a popular progressive candidate's bid to succeed him was thwarted by military and pro-royalist lawmakers.

Opening batsman Imam-ul-Haq hit an unbeaten 50 to steer Pakistan home in the first Test against Sri Lanka on Thursday, passing their tricky target of 131 with four wickets to spare.

A-listers are skipping this week's Comic-Con due to a historic Hollywood strike -- but while some ticketholders are disappointed, long-standing comic book fans are delighted to have their world-famous event back.

Opening batsman Imam-ul-Haq hit an unbeaten 50 to steer Pakistan home in their tricky chase of 131 against Sri Lanka and win the first Test by four wickets on Thursday.

Hordes of buzzing but sterile mosquitoes are being let loose in Zagreb as Croatia gets ahead of worries that climate change could bring tropical diseases to the Mediterranean nation.

Shirlei Aparecida de Souza uses her foot to crush the empty cold drink cans she collects in the alleys of a poor Sao Paulo neighborhood: a precarious livelihood critical to Brazil's environmental protection goals.

Russian strikes hit the Ukrainian port of Odesa for a third consecutive night since Moscow pulled out of a grain export deal, officials said Thursday, as Crimean authorities said a teenager had died in Kyiv's latest attack on the peninsula.

Chinese leader Xi Jinping met former US secretary of state Henry Kissinger in Beijing on Thursday, state media reported, describing the 100-year-old as a "legendary diplomat".

Megan Rapinoe has embraced a different role for the United States as the decorated veteran bids to bow out from the World Cup with a third title in a row.

With its open kitchen, bathtub and electric piano, Chinese e-commerce worker Twiggy He's home is the envy of her colleagues -- even if it is located in their office carpark.

Cattle wander between the concrete shells of half-finished mansions in northeastern China, some of the only occupants of a luxury complex whose crumbling verandas and overgrown arches are stark symbols of a housing market crippled by its own excess.

Fontana Fang has dived into China's cutthroat real estate market and emerged victorious, shaking off soaring prices to snap up a handsome property for next to nothing -- a distant dream for many.

Gao Zhuang says he has refused to pay his mortgage for months, a desperate protest against the Chinese property developer he blames for endless delays on the unfinished apartment he bought years ago for his son.

Veteran skipper Christine Sinclair warned on Thursday that Olympic champions Canada can beat anyone at the Women's World Cup, saying: "This team is full of rock stars."

On the third of every month, hundreds of the faithful gather in a windswept field in a village near Rome where they believe a statue of the Virgin Mary is crying tears of blood.

Japan won the World Cup in 2011 playing a free-flowing style that made them the envy of women's football, but they have fallen behind since then, sparking accusations of mismanagement and neglect.

English hospitals were braced Thursday for the latest doctors' strike to hit the state-run health service with managers warning it will leave "routine care virtually at a standstill".

In a pristine patch of Lebanon's north coast, a rare marine visitor has fuelled opposition to a seafront development, in a country where unchecked construction has obstructed access to beaches.

Declan Rice made his Arsenal debut and Kai Havertz scored his first goal for the Gunners as Mikel Arteta's side hammered the Major League Soccer All Star team 5-0 in a friendly at Audi Field on Wednesday.