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Britain's economy shrank in the third quarter as inflation soars, official data showed Friday, likely confirming it is already in a recession, dealing a fresh blow to new Prime Minister Rishi Sunak.

A Taiwanese truck driver was sentenced to nearly eight years in jail on Friday for causing the island's worst rail disaster in decades, which left 49 dead and more than 200 injured.

Japan's SoftBank Group on Friday posted a net profit in the second quarter, partly thanks to gains from the recent reduction of its stake in Chinese e-commerce giant Alibaba.

Xi Jinping and Joe Biden will hold talks at next week's G20 summit in Bali, their first face-to-face meeting since the US president took office.

Japan's justice minister stepped down on Friday after facing criticism for reportedly saying his "low-profile" position only generates media coverage when he approves the death penalty.

The wife of a jailed Saudi activist says she is desperate to know her husband's fate after losing touch with him for the first time during his nearly decade-long imprisonment.

A rescue ship carrying 230 migrants docked at the French port of Toulon on Friday amid a blazing row between France and Italy over which country is responsible for them.

Amnesty International has made an urgent plea less than 10 days before the World Cup in Qatar kicks off for FIFA President Gianni Infantino to commit to a compensation package for the migrant workers who built the tournament's gleaming stadiums.

The Ethiopian government said Friday that 70 percent of the war-stricken northern region of Tigray was now under federal army control and that aid was being sent in -- claims swiftly denied by Tigrayan rebels.

Xi Jinping will attend the G20 summit in Indonesia next week and meet his US counterpart Joe Biden, Beijing's foreign ministry confirmed on Friday, in their first in-person talks since the Chinese president sealed a historic third term as leader last month.

Britain's economy shrank in the third quarter, official data showed Friday, likely confirming it is already in a recession forecast to last some time.

Japan's SoftBank Group on Friday posted a net profit in the second quarter, partly thanks to gains from its recent reduction of its stake in Chinese e-commerce giant Alibaba.

Standing next to a freshly-cut clearing the size of seven football fields, Finnish forest engineer Matti Jappila pointed to growth rings in an up to 300-year-old tree stump.

Heads turn and jaws drop when South African actor Kim Engelbrecht walks down a Cape Town street.

Deadlier than Covid, or even rivalling cancer? Researchers have been increasingly attempting to calculate the effect climate change will have on health if the world does not act quickly to reduce carbon emissions.

An auction of paintings and sculptures from the collection of Microsoft co-founder Paul Allen fetched a record $1.6 billion over two days, Christie's auction house said on Thursday.

The curtain comes down Saturday on a women's Rugby World Cup in New Zealand which has smashed records and been declared a milestone in the growth of the sport.

Inadequate privacy safeguards and the stockpiling of sensitive customer information have made Australia a lucrative target in the eyes of foreign hackers, cybersecurity experts told AFP following a series of major data breaches.

China's Singles Day shopping bonanza entered its final stretch Friday, with all eyes on whether sales can top a record one trillion yuan ($140 billion) despite the country's struggling economy.

China announced the relaxation of some of its hardline Covid-19 restrictions on Friday, cutting the quarantine period for inbound travellers from 10 days to eight and scrapping snap closures of flight routes.

Skipper Jos Buttler believes an "incredibly dangerous" England will be hard to beat in Sunday's Twenty20 World Cup final, but Pakistan say they have "all bases covered" -- and then there's the threat of rain.

World leaders attending a summit in Phnom Penh will receive Cambodian-made watches from host Hun Sen, a noted fan of luxury timepieces.

Russian hackers carried out a cyberattack on a major Australian healthcare company that breached the data of 9.7 million people, including the country's prime minister, police said Friday.

Divers searching for a World War II-era aircraft near the Bermuda Triangle have found a piece of an entirely different sort of vessel: part of the US Challenger space shuttle that exploded soon after takeoff in 1986.

Getting up close to Big Ben requires earplugs, and ear defenders over them to be safe. When the 13.7-tonne bell sounds, the vibration hits you in the chest.

The Japanese government will pour half a billion dollars into a new project to develop and make next-generation microchips, chief cabinet secretary Hirokazu Matsuno said Friday.

Formula One boss Stefano Domenicali has defended the sport's presence in Qatar, telling AFP that the sport is an "accelerator for change".

Paulina Krumbiegel scored in the 89th minute to lift Germany to a 2-1 victory over the United States on Thursday, handing the women's World Cup champions a first home defeat in more than five years.

The escalating crisis in Myanmar was set to dominate summit talks Friday between Southeast Asian leaders struggling to find a way to calm the bloodshed in the junta-ruled country.

A Turkish journalist exiled in Stockholm is increasingly worried he will be used as a bartering chip after Turkey's president singled out his extradition as key to approving Sweden's NATO bid.

Thirteen-year-old Zainab should have been shopping for a new school uniform this autumn but, with no prospect of girls' schools reopening in Afghanistan, she was instead forced to pick out a wedding dress.

Three years ago, Fadel Abbas marched with tens of thousands of fellow Iraqis chanting for the "fall of the regime" in Baghdad's Tahrir Square, meaning "liberation" in Arabic.