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Max Verstappen shrugged off the prestige of the Monaco Grand Prix on Thursday and said he lamented engine suppliers Honda’s decision to switch from his Red Bull team to Aston Martin in 2026.

Filippo Zana edged Thibaut Pinot to take the 18th stage of the Giro d'Italia on Thursday while Primoz Roglic went on the attack and shook off all his main rivals except race leader Geraint Thomas, who was celebrating his 37th birthday.

Venezuela's acclaimed conductor Gustavo Dudamel on Thursday said he was stepping down from his role as musical director of the Paris Opera.

A woman and two male police officers were killed in a shooting and stabbing attack at a farm in central Japan on Thursday, media reported.

West African fish exporter Ivory Coast on Thursday announced temporary bans on trawling for tuna and other species in a bid to protect dwindling stocks.

Twelve months ago, a despondent Wu Yibing was retiring with injury from a low-level clay court tournament in Italy, earning a meagre 530 euros ($570) for his troubles.

Siya Kolisi is on track to captain the Springboks in their defence of the Rugby World Cup, said Rassie Erasmus, South Africa's director of rugby, on Thursday.

US lawmakers were set to embark on a 10-day break Thursday, despite failing to agree on raising the nation's borrowing limit to avert a looming default that could come while they are away.

Thousands of Romanian teachers took to the streets on Thursday to demand higher pay and better working conditions, as the first such strike in 18 years forced the closure of most schools.

From a sex offender to far-from-perfect mothers and girls unabashedly exploring their sexuality, this year's Cannes Film Festival has thrown out the stereotype of the one-dimensional female character.

The scrap of red plastic in among the waterside reeds in northern France could be any fragment of the throwaway consumerism piling up across the planet, flowing into rivers, choking animals, even seeping into our bloodstreams.

The French Olympic movement must "focus" on the preparations for the 2024 Games in Paris, an IOC spokesperson told AFP on Thursday hours after Brigitte Henriques' surprise resignation as National Olympic Committee (CNOSF) president.

Global stock markets struggled Thursday as the US debt standoff dragged on and Germany entered recession, but tech shares surged after US chip firm Nvidia reported bumper earnings thanks to the AI boom.

Officials of El Salvador's Alianza Football Club and the Cuscatlan stadium were arrested Thursday and the remainder of the season-ending playoffs were cancelled after a weekend stampede killed 12.

Arne Slot has committed to staying at Feyenoord, ruling himself out of contention for the vacant Tottenham manager's job.

Novak Djokovic could face world number one Carlos Alcaraz in the semi-finals of the French Open after both players were placed in the same half of the draw on Thursday.

A centuries-old, towering tree that served as a historic symbol in Sierra Leone has been felled during a wind and rain storm in the capital Freetown, the government said on Thursday.

A "big gap" exists between female representation at Japan's central bank and its overseas counterparts, the bank's new governor Kazuo Ueda acknowledged Thursday.

Qatar Sports Investments, the owners of French champions Paris Saint-Germain, are in negotiations over acquiring a stake in Italian club Sampdoria, a source with knowledge of the matter told AFP on Thursday.

Police Scotland is "institutionally racist" and "discriminatory", the force's chief constable said on Thursday, after a review into its culture.

The EU anti-trust chief on Thursday defended the bloc's decision to approve Microsoft's $69-billion takeover bid for US video game giant Activision Blizzard despite the UK's block on it.

Greek MEP Eva Kaili, the face of the "Qatargate" corruption scandal, has been allowed to remove an electronic ankle tag and freed from house arrest pending trial, prosecutors said Thursday.

Two people were lightly injured by three hooded men during a burglary at the home of Valencia's Dutch winger Justin Kluivert, Spanish police said Thursday.

"Someone like this should live forever," said one of Tina Turner's neighbours as she laid flowers outside the rock legend's home in Switzerland on Thursday.

The kitchen of a 19th-century French chateau is home to an endless gastronomic feast in "The Pot-au-Feu", an ode to food with a simmering love story at its heart which left Cannes critics drooling.

Turkey's pro-Kurdish party decided Thursday to continue backing the main opposition leader despite his overtures to far-right parties in the runup to this weekend's historic presidential runoff.

South Korea said Thursday it had successfully launched its homegrown Nuri rocket and placed working satellites into orbit, hailing a key step forward for the country's burgeoning space programme.

The head of Russia's Wagner mercenary group said on Thursday his troops had started transferring their positions in the flashpoint eastern Ukraine city of Bakhmut to the Russian military.

Net migration in the UK hit a record 606,000 in 2022, official figures showed on Thursday, heaping pressure on the government, which has pledged to cut dependency on foreign labour.

Spain votes Sunday in local and regional polls which will test Socialist Prime Minister Pedro Sanchez's chances of remaining in power after a general election later this year.

Sports Minister Amelie Oudea Castera on Thursday called on the French National Olympic Committee (CNOSF) to rally together after their president Brigitte Henriques quit her post only 14 months before Paris hosts the Olympic Games.

Global stock markets struggled Thursday following news that Europe's biggest economy Germany has entered recession, and after Fitch warned that the US debt standoff could threaten its gold-plated credit rating.