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The UK's National Crime Agency announced Wednesday it had arrested the suspected leader of an international criminal operation supplying small boats to people smugglers taking migrants across the Channel.

Mexico announced Wednesday an agreement with members of the private sector aimed at maintaining prices of staple foods in the face of the highest inflation in two decades.

Bundesliga side Freiburg announced on Wednesday the signing of 2014 World Cup winner Matthias Ginter, who will return to his former club from Borussia Moenchengladbach on a free transfer.

The European Commission proposed a gradual ban on Russian oil imports to punish Moscow for its invasion of Ukraine Wednesday, as officials in the destroyed city of Mariupol reported heavy fighting at the Azovstal steel plant.

Tom Brady and the Tampa Bay Buccaneers will face the Seattle Seahawks next season in the first NFL regular season fixture staged in Germany, the league confirmed on Wednesday.

British actor and writer Stephen Fry was Wednesday named as the next president of the influential Marylebone Cricket Club, which is the custodian of the laws of the game.

The jersey that Argentina football legend Diego Maradona wore while scoring twice against England in the 1986 World Cup, including the infamous "hand of God" goal, was auctioned for $9.3 million, a record for any item of sports memorabilia, Sotheby's said Wednesday.

In her breakout movie "Roman Holiday", Audrey Hepburn's ingenue princess flirts with Gregory Peck at La Bocca della Verita, placing the ominous Italian statue firmly on the tourist trail.

Gradually replacing 20 percent of global beef and lamb consumption with meat-textured proteins grown in stainless steel vats could cut agriculture-related CO2 emissions and deforestation in half by 2050, researchers reported Wednesday.

Lee Westwood said Wednesday he had asked to be released from the US and European golf tours so he can compete in the first event of a lucrative Saudi-backed series next month.

Olympic wrestling champion Ismael Borrero has become the latest Cuban athlete to abscond while abroad, leaving the delegation in Mexico for the Pan-American Wrestling Championships, sports officials said.

French doctor and researcher Marthe Gautier, who died over the weekend, was one of a long line of women scientists who greatly contributed to scientific discovery only to see the credit go to their male colleagues.

A few months back, President Jair Bolsonaro was getting crushed in the polls for Brazil's October elections, trailing his nemesis, ex-president Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva, so badly it seemed he might lose in the first round.

Barcelona's Marc-Andre ter Stegen will miss Germany's Nations League games against England, Italy and Hungary this June, the goalkeeper announced on Wednesday.

Country music icon Dolly Parton was inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame on Wednesday even though she did not want the honor, calling herself unworthy of it.

Global stock markets wavered on Wednesday as investors braced for an expected half-point interest rate hike from the inflation-fighting US Federal Reserve.

Ten Burundian peacekeepers were killed in Tuesday's attack by Al-Shabaab jihadists on an African Union (AU) base in Somalia, Burundi's army said Wednesday.

Sri Lanka will have to endure its unprecedented economic hardships for at least two more years, the country's finance minister said Wednesday while warning of an imminent cash crunch.

Migrant labourers are working through the night near the World Cup clock that will start counting down 200 days to kick-off on Thursday, with hosts Qatar facing mounting questions over costs and conditions for fans.

France's left-of-centre parties on Wednesday reached an alliance deal for June parliamentary polls, aiming for a strong enough showing to hinder President Emmanuel Macron's controversial reform plans.

A surge in imports of goods and services in March drove the US trade gap to the highest level ever recorded, with huge increases in purchases of autos, computers, furniture and clothing, the government reported Wednesday.

A Myanmar junta court on Wednesday rejected an appeal by ousted leader Aung San Suu Kyi against a five-year sentence for corruption handed down last week, according to a source with knowledge of the case.

US private businesses saw surprisingly weak hiring in April, a survey showed Wednesday, amid low unemployment that's made their quest to find workers even more difficult.

The Venice Film Festival will this year honour the US filmmaker Paul Schrader, behind hits like "Taxi Driver," "American Gigolo" and "Raging Bull," for lifetime achievement, organisers said on Wednesday.

Amnesty International on Wednesday accused a powerful government-backed Libyan armed group of abuses against migrants and Tripoli residents.

A man armed with a replica gun that works like a knife tackled comedian Dave Chappelle as he performed a stand-up set in Los Angeles, police said.

Argentina winger Juan Imhoff has signed a new deal with Racing 92, the French Top 14 club announced on Wednesday despite reports claiming he would leave at the end of the season.

Patriarch Kirill, the head of Russia's Orthodox Church now facing European sanctions over Ukraine, is a fervent supporter of President Vladimir Putin who once described his rule as a "miracle".

The European Commission proposed a gradual ban on Russian oil imports Wednesday to punish Moscow for its invasion of Ukraine, as Russian forces pounded sites to the east of the country and hit targets in the far west near the EU border.

Global stock markets slid Wednesday in cautious deals before an expected half-point interest rate hike from the inflation-fighting US Federal Reserve.

Fifty-seven games into a gruelling season Liverpool could have crumbled when their 2-0 first-leg lead was wiped out before half-time by an inspired Villarreal playing to reach their first-ever Champions League final.

Beijing closed dozens of subway stations and expanded Covid restrictions Wednesday, constricting movement around the Chinese capital despite logging only dozens of daily cases.