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Sri Lankan police have been ordered to go on the offensive and use live ammunition to prevent "anarchy", a top official told AFP Wednesday after another night of sporadic arson attacks.

Despite his Oxford education and jet-set lifestyle, the Philippines's president-elect Ferdinand Marcos Junior sailed to victory this week as a champion of the poor.

The son of the late Philippines dictator Ferdinand Marcos on Wednesday claimed victory in the presidential election, vowing to be a leader "for all Filipinos", his spokesman said.

Veteran Al Jazeera journalist Shireen Abu Aqleh was killed by Israeli troops Wednesday as she covered a raid on Jenin refugee camp in the occupied West Bank, the network and Palestinian witnesses said.

The casing of a cluster munition stood upright like a fence pole not far from a team of Ukrainian medics rushing a bleeding soldier from the eastern front.

Cambodian fishermen on the Mekong River got a shock when they inadvertently hooked an endangered giant freshwater stingray four metres long and weighing 180 kilos, scientists said on Wednesday.

Badminton world number one Akane Yamaguchi suffered a stunning Thomas and Uber Cup defeat on Wednesday at the hands of a teenage rookie ranked more than 300 places below her.

The fate of New Zealand Rugby's contentious deal with a US private equity firm should be known within a month, after a special general meeting was called by the sport's bosses on Wednesday.

Ferdinand Marcos Junior visited the grave of his dictator father hours after his thumping victory in the Philippine presidential election, his team said Wednesday, posting photos of the intimate moment on social media.

Well-known faces of Cuba's protest have in recent years gone into exile in Madrid, which is rivalling Miami as a haven for Latin American political opponents.

The sound of hip hop mixes with the dull thud of fists walloping heavy bags as a group of Ukrainian boxers unleash combinations, burning off weeks of pent up stress.

Veteran Al Jazeera journalist Shireen Abu Aqleh was shot dead by Israeli troops Wednesday as she covered a raid on Jenin refugee camp in the occupied West Bank, an AFP photographer reported.

New Zealand will fully reopen to the world in August, Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern said on Wednesday, ending one of the toughest anti-Covid-19 border restrictions.

Toyota on Wednesday posted a record full-year net profit helped by strong sales and a cheaper yen, but issued cautious forecasts as the pandemic and war in Ukraine disrupt supply chains.

Russian troops are being pushed away from Ukraine's second city Kharkiv, President Volodymyr Zelensky said, but sounded a note of caution as Washington said Vladimir Putin won't stop with the east and is ready for a long war.

The wildly popular FIFA video-game series will be rebranded EA Sports FC next year, its publisher Electronic Arts said on Tuesday, ending a three-decade relationship with football's governing body.

Tokyo will begin recognising same-sex partnerships from November after revising current rules, officials said Wednesday, becoming the largest city in Japan to do so.

In a country where a Muay Thai right hook is more familiar than a batter's hook shot, Thailand's pioneering women cricketers are winning hearts with smiles, dance moves -- and skill.

With his hand pushed firmly into his cheek and his eyes fixed on the table, Garry Kasparov shot a final dark glance at the chessboard before storming out of the room: the king of chess had just been beaten by a computer.

Asian stocks opened mixed on Wednesday, following a volatile day on Wall Street that had investors concerned about surging inflation and sent global oil prices retreating.

Since Russia invaded Ukraine, Madrid has revived calls to build a huge gas pipeline between Spain and France dubbed MidCat that would boost Europe's energy independence from Russia.

The threat of losing his West Bank land has loomed over Ali Mohammed Jabbareen for more than two decades, but he now fears an Israeli court decision may finally force him to go.

The PGA Tour has refused to grant releases for players seeking to take part in the Saudi-backed LIV Golf Invitational Series opener in England next month, multiple US media reports said Tuesday.

US lawmakers voted Tuesday to send a $40 billion aid package to Ukraine as Washington warned that Russia was likely girding for a long conflict with its neighbor.

A prolonged summer heatwave in Australia left 91 percent of the Great Barrier Reef's coral damaged by bleaching, according to a new government monitoring report.

Lebanon's elections Sunday won't yield a seismic shift despite widespread discontent with a graft-tainted political class blamed for a painful economic crisis and a deadly disaster, experts say.

Three more bodies were pulled Tuesday from the rubble of a Havana hotel that was destroyed days earlier in an explosion, taking the death toll to 43.

With surging prices undermining wage gains and hurting American families, US President Joe Biden said Tuesday that fighting inflation is his top priority, but he may have limited tools to tackle the issue.

Apple on Tuesday put out word it is no longer making iPods, the trend-setting MP3 players that transformed how people get music and gave rise to the iPhone.

The Pentagon congratulated The New York Times Tuesday for winning a Pulitzer Prize for its highly critical expose of civilian deaths in the Afghanistan war, saying the report forced the US military to examine its own behavior.

Memphis Grizzlies star Ja Morant could miss the remainder of the NBA postseason after suffering a bone bruise in his right knee, the team announced on Tuesday.

Ecuadoran police on Tuesday said 200 convicts who escaped following a deadly prison riot have been recaptured in 24 hours, with 20 still at large.