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When Sim Yip How first came across xiangqi as a little boy he looked on mesmerised as grandmasters puzzled over the ancient Chinese game.

India's badminton team hit new heights last week with their maiden Thomas Cup victory in Bangkok, even managing to keep cricket in the shade leaving former players confident the sport can "build on this success".

Depopulation threatens the future of Switzerland's picturesque mountain villages, but three brothers are trying to keep theirs alive by capturing its essence in a bottle.

Eclipsed by two Green party ministers over his response to the war in Ukraine, Chancellor Olaf Scholz is battling to wrest back public approval -- starting with a speech to parliament on Thursday.

Taiwan's LGBTQ community celebrated the third year of gay marriage being legal this week, but for Vincent Chuang it was a bittersweet reminder that he still cannot wed because he fell in love with a foreigner.

Max Verstappen returns to the scene of his stunning teenage maiden Formula One triumph at the Spanish Grand Prix this weekend as a battle-hardened world champion in pursuit of his second title.

US President Joe Biden will host the leaders of Finland and Sweden on Thursday to discuss their NATO membership bids, while Ukraine said no military option was left to rescue the soldiers still inside a steel plant besieged by Russian forces.

Former Barcelona prodigy Bojan Krkic is playing in his seventh country and "would not change anything" about a career that started with him labelled the next Lionel Messi and now sees him in Japan.

Health authorities in North America and Europe have detected dozens of suspected or confirmed cases of monkeypox since early May, sparking concern the disease endemic in parts of Africa is spreading.

Stephen Curry scored 21 points as the Golden State Warriors bottled up Luka Doncic and the Dallas Mavericks to win their Western Conference finals series opener 112-87 on Wednesday.

A Japanese man given $360,000 in Covid-19 aid by mistake has been arrested after saying he gambled away the money online, police said Thursday.

Asian markets posted big early losses Thursday, after Wall Street suffered one of its worst batterings in two years in the previous session.

Russian superstar ballerina Olga Smirnova quit the Bolshoi Ballet over Moscow's invasion of Ukraine, but says the famed dance company will outlive the vagaries of war.

A giant Donald Trump mural on the front lawn. An anti-Biden rap video. A TV ad featuring an assault rifle and a vow to do "whatever it takes" to restore America to its "former glory."

Naomi Osaka returns to Roland Garros looking to banish the memories of her withdrawal 12 months ago, but hampered by concerns over her clay-court form and fitness.

The US government will fly in baby formula on commercial planes contracted by the military in an airlift aimed at easing the major shortage plaguing the country, the White House said on Wednesday.

With a few dozen fighters, the Paraguayan People's Army (EPP) guerrilla group has held residents of a central province in a grip of fear for the past 14 years.

We all know someone with a rubbish fashion sense, but Rob Greenfield is proud to be wearing garbage -- it's all part of a plan to show just how much trash we unthinkingly throw away every month.

Rosangela da Silva is a smiley, politically active member of Brazil's Workers' Party, but the new wife of presidential hopeful Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva remains discreet when it comes to her private life.

A gunman's livestream of a mass killing in New York state was taken down in a matter of minutes -- but even that was not fast enough to prevent those images from becoming effectively impossible to erase from the internet.

Swimmer Shayna Jack said she "proved a point" after emerging from under a dark doping cloud to make Australia's world championship and Commonwealth Games freestyle teams.

Jean-Michel Basquiat's "Untitled" 1982 sold for $85 million at auction in New York Wednesday, well above its pre-sale estimate and netting Japanese billionaire space tourist Yusaku Maezawa a tidy profit.

Rafael Nadal tested out his injured foot in his first practice at the French Open on Wednesday without any obvious discomfort.

Thousands of Jewish faithful converged on Israel's Mount Meron on Wednesday for an annual pilgrimage, amid tightened safety measures a year after 45 people were crushed to death in a stampede.

Goalkeeper Kevin Trapp paid tribute to travelling Eintracht Frankfurt fans for their support after his crucial save in a penalty shoot-out helped the German club beat Rangers to win the Europa League final on Wednesday.

Johnny Depp grabbed his then-wife Amber Heard by the hair and repeatedly struck her in the face during a heated argument about a month after their marriage, her sister said Wednesday.

Eintracht Frankfurt defeated Rangers 5-4 on penalties to win the Europa League on Wednesday after the final in Seville finished 1-1 at the end of extra time.

The NBA cracked down on the rowdy behavior of the Dallas bench on Wednesday, fining the Mavs' $50,000 for violating "team bench decorum" rules in their series-clinching victory over the Phoenix Suns.

Jordan Spieth and Rory McIlroy will enjoy playing alongside Tiger Woods for the first two rounds of the PGA Championship despite the huge crowds and distractions their supergroup will create.

The United States said Wednesday it is confident Finland and Sweden will become part of NATO, despite vocal Turkish protests -- an expansion that would dramatically realign European security in the wake of Russia's invasion of Ukraine.

Social media posts are urging parents who face baby formula shortages to make it themselves. But pediatricians told AFP they do not advise patients to use homemade formula, warning it may lack vitamins and nutrients key to helping infants grow and thrive.

Think about people you know, and how you could tell they were around even if you couldn't see them: perhaps their voice, or a favored perfume.