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The US and Russian presidents Donald Trump and Vladimir Putin are to meet at a US air base in Alaska on Friday for talks on the Ukraine war.

People in western Myanmar have been driven to scavenging for bamboo shoots, as humanitarian workers warn a wartime blockade and aid cutbacks led by Washington have caused hunger cases to surge.

French qualifier Terence Atmane toppled another top-10 player in Holger Rune on Thursday to line up a semi-final showdown with world number one Jannik Sinner at the Cincinnati Open.

Hong Kong judges on Friday postponed the trial of Jimmy Lai until the pro-democracy media tycoon is provided with a heart monitoring device and related medication -- the second delay to the case this week.

Asian stocks were mixed Friday after better-than-expected Japanese growth and weak Chinese data, while oil slipped back ahead of a US-Russia summit on Ukraine.

Russian President Vladimir Putin hailed North Korean troops sent to fight in Ukraine as "heroic" in a letter to Kim Jong Un, North Korean state media reported Friday.

It was already 30C at 9:30 am as New Zealander Olivia Ansari waited with other tourists outside Rome's Catacombs of Saint Callixtus, seeking relief underground from the punishing summer heat.

Divers have spent more than a month searching a lake south of Manila for the bodies of men with links to the Philippines' bloody national obsession: cockfighting.

Equipped with an infrared thermometer, Austrian artist Jonas Griessler measures the sweltering heat in an inner courtyard in the centre of Vienna.

On a lively weekend, a bartender in Nepal's capital Kathmandu balances carefully a slice of titaura, a local tangy and spicy hog plum treat, on top of a martini glass.

El Salvador plans to hold around 600 mass trials for the tens of thousands suspected gang members who have been detained without charges in the country since 2022, the Central American country's attorney general said Thursday.

When the water pump is switched on, hundreds of tilapia come to the surface of a pond at a Brazilian fish farm. Their final destination is now uncertain because of US President Donald Trump's stiff tariffs.

A Hong Kong court on Friday began hearing closing arguments in the national security trial of pro-democracy media tycoon Jimmy Lai, following a one-day delay because of bad weather.

Princess Anne, the sister of British head of state King Charles III, turned 75 on Friday, with the famously straightforward royal eschewing any public celebration of her birthday.

Japan eked out modest growth in the second quarter despite painful US tariffs, official data showed Friday, in welcome news to embattled Prime Minister Shigeru Ishiba.

The annual Rugby Championship, featuring World Cup title-holders South Africa, New Zealand, Australia and Argentina, kicks off on Saturday amid uncertainty over its future.

Israel's finance minister backed plans on Thursday to build 3,400 homes in a particularly contentious area of the occupied West Bank, calling for the territory's annexation in response to several countries' plans to recognise a Palestinian state.

Robert MacIntyre used a red-hot putter to birdie the last six holes and surge to a three-shot lead over Tommy Fleetwood in the US PGA Tour BMW Championship in Maryland on Thursday.

Outside the busiest train station in Washington, newly deployed National Guard troops wearing camouflage lean on a huge military Humvee.

Talks on striking a global treaty on combating plastic pollution were extended an extra day into Friday but with no clear endgame in sight.

Tariffs imposed by US President Donald Trump on dozens of countries have so far not affected container ship traffic through the Panama Canal, its administrator said Thursday.

YouTube has started using artificial intelligence (AI) to figure out when users are children pretending to be adults on the popular video-sharing platform amid pressure to protect minors from sensitive content.

Record-breaking Armand 'Mondo' Duplantis has predicted a "super-sick" world championships in Tokyo, where he won his first Olympic medal in the Covid-delayed Summer Games, but insisted statistics were unimportant to him.

Clashes between rival groups of protesters in Serbia flared again late Thursday, police said, as months of anti-government demonstrations boiled over into street violence this week.

Jannik Sinner "felt great on the court" as he annihilated Felix Auger-Aliassime 6-0, 6-2 on Thursday to reach the ATP-WTA Cincinnati Open semi-finals with his 25th straight hardcourt match victory.

Wall Street stocks finished little changed Thursday as markets absorbed a disappointing inflation report, while oil prices shot higher on the eve of a US-Russia summit on Ukraine.

California unveiled plans to redraw its electoral districts Thursday, as Democrats push back on what they say is Donald Trump's effort to rig next year's Congressional elections to safeguard his slim Republican majority.

Apple on Thursday said some of its top smartwatch models are getting a redesigned blood oxygen sensing feature, sidelined for several years by a patent dispute.

Bristol have signed Louis Rees-Zammit following his return to rugby union after the Wales wing gave up on his 18-month long bid to break into the NFL.

US President Donald Trump insisted Thursday he would not be intimidated by Russian leader Vladimir Putin on the eve of a high-stakes summit and said Ukraine would be involved in any deal on its fate.

US President Donald Trump and Russian President Vladimir Putin -- and, from a distance, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky -- have dueling interests going into a high-stakes summit in Alaska on Friday.

Countries scrambled Thursday to secure a global agreement on tackling plastic pollution as 10-day talks headed towards overtime, with one diplomat saying negotiators were in a "haze" on how to find common ground.

Bristol have signed Louis Rees-Zammit following his return to rugby union after the Wales wing gave up on his bid to break into the NFL.

Coco Gauff eased past Lucia Bronzetti on Thursday to book a Cincinnati Open quarter-final meeting with Jasmine Paolini, although the American showed signs of some minor rust after receiving a bye in the previous round.

At least 56 people have died and dozens more remain missing after torrents of water and mud driven by intense rain crashed through a Himalayan village Thursday in Indian-administered Kashmir, a top disaster management official told AFP.

Apple on Thursday rejected Elon Musk's claim that its digital App Store favors OpenAI's ChatGPT over his company's Grok and other rival AI assistants.

Italian authorities searched Thursday for migrants missing at sea after two crowded boats sank off the island of Lampedusa, killing at least 27 people.

Air Canada began cancelling flights on Thursday after receiving a strike notice from the flight attendants' union, warning all operations could be shut down by Saturday.

Donald Trump is turning history on its head with his Alaska summit with Vladimir Putin -- inviting Russia's leader to land that once belonged to Moscow, and meeting him at a military base that monitored the Soviet Union.