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The Canterbury Crusaders aim to secure a seventh straight Super Rugby title and a triumphant swansong for talismanic All Blacks-coach-to-be Scott Robertson this Saturday. But the in-form Waikato Chiefs could spoil the party.

Britain on Thursday celebrates the 75th anniversary of the arrival of the Empire Windrush ship bringing workers from the West Indies, but with the bitter legacy of a wrongful deportation scandal still fresh.

The eagerly awaited new game in the best-selling Final Fantasy franchise came out on Thursday, with fans hailing its high-spec action graphics and grown-up storyline.

At the very last second, the Lagos professional gamer wins his battle of "Street Fighter", sending the crowd into roars of joy, a scene unimaginable a few years ago in Nigeria, where the eSports is now in full bloom.

It was once a thriving maritime hub, including for the transatlantic slave trade, but after years of industrial decline, Liverpool's economy is getting a boost from its most famous sons.

A massive search and rescue effort for a missing submersible near the wreck of the Titanic was at a critical stage late Wednesday, with just hours left before the oxygen supply for the five people on board runs out.

Juan Imhoff, recalled by Argentina after being left out in 2019, is sure that the Rugby World Cup in his adopted home of France is "bound to be magnificent".

The Bank of England is forecast Thursday to lift interest rates for the 13th time in a row -- and may hike sharply to fight stubborn inflation despite worsening a cost-of-living crisis.

Markets fell in Asia on Thursday as traders contemplated the prospect of more central bank interest rate hikes as they struggle to tame persistently high inflation.

Turkey was widely expected Thursday to pivot away from years of unconventional economics promoted by President Recep Tayyip Erdogan and dramatically raise interest rates to fight inflation and steady the troubled lira.

At least 31 people were killed when an explosion ripped through a restaurant in the northwestern Chinese city of Yinchuan, state media said Thursday.

Struggling Hertha Berlin face an uncertain future despite a decision to allow postponed repayment of a high-interest loan, which effectively ensured a German FA (DFB) operating licence next season.

Dozens of global leaders will gather in Paris Thursday for a summit to tease out a new consensus on international economic reforms to help debt-burdened developing countries face a growing onslaught of challenges, particularly climate change.

Activist Lydia Heykamp goes door-to-door in a quiet Virginia suburb with a pressing message: now that the constitutional right to abortion has been overturned, the state must ban it outright.

Heatwaves across Asia and beyond have already broken records this year, while the arrival of the El Nino climate phenomenon will mean even more extreme temperatures.

Miner Vitali volunteered to fight against Russia from the first days of the conflict at the front lines in his native Kharkiv, in eastern Ukraine, where orthopaedic surgeon Olga Pidgaiska worked in a hospital.

Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Wednesday opened a state visit to Washington as the United States steps up its wooing of India despite simmering disagreements on Ukraine and human rights.

The journey to the ocean floor to reach the wreck of the Titanic is one that gets relentlessly colder and darker, says one of the handful of people who have ever visited the luxury liner's watery grave.

Australia's internet safety watchdog on Thursday threatened to fine Twitter for failing to tackle online abuse, saying Elon Musk's takeover had coincided with a spike in "toxicity and hate".

United States lawmakers on Wednesday invited the chiefs of the PGA Tour, LIV Golf and Saudi Arabia's Public Investment Fund to testify at a hearing looking into their shock deal that has rocked the golf world.

Brazil's central bank held its key interest rate unchanged a seventh straight time Wednesday and gave no sign it was prepared to start lowering it soon, despite pressure from President Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva.

Since it sank on its maiden voyage more than a century ago, the Titanic has had an unshakeable grip on the public imagination.

A massive search and rescue effort for a missing submersible near the wreck of the Titanic entered a critical stage late Wednesday, with just one night left before the oxygen supply for the five people on board runs out.

Wall Street stocks fell after US Federal Reserve chief Jerome Powell warned Wednesday of further interest rate hikes, while European markets slid after a stubbornly high inflation reading in Britain.

British number one Cameron Norrie battled back from a set down to reach the quarter-finals of the Wimbledon warm-up event at Queen's Club on Wednesday.

An explosion potentially caused by a gas leak ripped through a building in central Paris on Wednesday, leaving four people fighting for their lives and causing a wave of destruction, officials said.

Manchester City midfielder Ilkay Gundogan is set to leave the treble winners to join Barcelona on a free transfer, according to reports on Wednesday.

Israel's military on Wednesday killed three members of a "terrorist cell" in a rare West Bank drone strike, the army said, as violence there escalates with at least 13 Palestinians and four Israelis dead this week.

The 2024 Paris Olympics are coming in significantly over budget because of an "incomprehensible lack of understanding of the complexity of the IOC's specifications", France's Court of Audit has found.

The trial of Guinea's former dictator Moussa Dadis Camara for a 2009 massacre was on Wednesday once again adjourned after several weeks of delays, an AFP correspondent saw.

The US Federal Reserve expects to keep raising interest rates but at a slower pace, Fed chair Jerome Powell told a congressional hearing Wednesday.

Swedish climate activist Greta Thunberg on Wednesday gave her backing to a climate group shut down by the French government amid accusations it foments violence.