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Tony Estanguet, the chief organiser of the 2024 Paris Olympics, said the route of the torch relay unveiled on Friday was "crazy" and "unbelievable".

UK private-sector growth has slowed to a three-month low as soaring interest rates and stubbornly high inflation fuelled by rising food prices worsens a cost-of-living crisis, data showed Friday.

Teenage leg-spinner Rehan Ahmed has been added to England's squad for the second Ashes Test against Australia as cover for Moeen Ali.

Rising star Biniam Girmay will lead the Belgian cycling team Intermarche-Wanty at the Tour de France targeting stage wins and a top 10 overall finish.

Kazakh Alexander Bublik advanced to the last four of the Wimbledon warm-up Halle Open, when Italian fourth seed Jannik Sinner withdrew hurt in the second set on Friday.

Defence firms are racing to meet demand for systems to protect against attacks using tricky-to-intercept hypersonic missiles, with several on display at this week's Paris Air Show.

Hospital doctors in England on Friday announced the longest strike in the history of the state-funded National Health Service (NHS), in an ongoing row over pay.

A global climate summit wrapped up Friday with a "consensus" that the international financial system was woefully inadequate in an era of global warming, after taking small steps to helping debt-burdened developing nations.

Equity markets declined Friday as traders eyed more interest-rate rises after another week of hikes by central banks to combat elevated inflation.

Four-time Tour de France winner Chris Froome was on Friday left out of Israel Premier Tech's eight-rider roster for this year's race.

The organisers of the 2024 Paris Olympics announced the route of the torch relay on Friday, hoping to spark positive headlines after a difficult week when police raided their offices.

Jubilant lawmakers in Lusaka sang Zambia's national anthem on Friday after foreign lenders agreed to restructure part of the country's debt, a move that entrepreneurs said brought hope for the crippled economy.

A mystery Russian diplomat with a penchant for loungewear and cigarettes sparked a national security standoff between Canberra and the Kremlin Friday, defying Australian efforts to seize a messy construction site in the heart of the capital.

Eurozone economic activity worsened in June to a five-month low, hit hard by a fall in industrial production, a keenly watched survey showed on Friday.

Kenyan President William Ruto does not hold back when describing the global lending system: it is "unfair, it's punitive, it doesn't give everybody a fair chance".

At least 19 people are dead after floods triggered by South Asia's annual monsoon, with a week of relentless rains forcing thousands of people to seek shelter in India.

Bayern Munich have signed Borussia Dortmund left-back Raphael Guerreiro on a free transfer, the Bavarian club announced on Friday.

Society has become so restrictive that police would now arrest her for public performances, provocative Austrian media artist Valie Export told AFP ahead of the opening of a retrospective in Vienna.

British military spies on Friday said Russia appears to be training combat dolphins in the annexed Crimean peninsula to counter Ukrainian forces.

Equity markets sank Friday and oil extended a sharp selloff after a string of interest rate hikes by central banks revived worries about the global economy.

Grock became known as the "king of clowns" but the Swiss entertainer who made the world laugh is now in the spotlight over his connections with Adolf Hitler.

It is shortly after sunrise, and Peter Mudenda looks for elephant tracks on a dirt road surrounded by mopane trees.

A leisure centre in Exmouth, southwest England, is using a small data centre to heat its indoor swimming pool, trialling an innovative solution that reduces its energy bills and carbon footprint.

Slow-moving climate protesters have become a daily sight on London's streets, undeterred by the honking horns of irate motorists, personal insults and even arrest.

Indonesian livestreamer Christine Febriyanti stood in a room crammed with clothes in Jakarta, hawking colourful garments to hundreds of viewers on a TikTok livestream for a local fashion brand.

A mystery Russian diplomat with a penchant for loungewear and cigarettes on Friday sparked a national security standoff between Canberra and the Kremlin, defying Australia's efforts to kick him off a messy building site near parliament.

"My whole life was in this house. Now I have nothing," said Tetiana Pivneva, after returning to her flooded home in the Ukraine city of Kherson following the catastrophic destruction of a dam.

The family of the British-Pakistani father and son among the five people who died on the Titanic tourist submersible expressed "profound grief" at their loss Friday.

Between brainstorming ways to fix the global financial system and appearing onstage at a Paris pop concert, Barbados Prime Minister Mia Mottley stopped to record a message about the storm looming near her Caribbean nation.

China issued its highest-level heat alert for northern parts of the country on Friday as the capital baked in temperatures hovering around 40 degrees Celsius (104 Fahrenheit).

Each morning, four children stand barefoot in a line and proudly sing the national anthem as the Thai flag is raised outside their school, perched on a finger of land surrounded by the sea.

Ex-New Zealand Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern announced Friday she will write a book about leadership to be published worldwide, after five tumultuous years in charge of the Pacific nation.