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A gender-swapped update of a German cult classic on Thursday opened the Berlinale, Europe's first major international film festival of the year, which organisers are staging as a live event despite surging coronavirus infections.

The Enigma, the largest cut diamond ever to come to auction, went under the hammer in London on Wednesday for £3.16 million ($4.3 million, 3.8 million euros) having recently gone on display for the first time.

YouTube on Thursday laid out goals for the year that included making the lives of creators easier and boosting a popular format that rivals TikTok.

Jamaica's bobsleigh crew at the Beijing Olympics say it's an honour to carry on the legacy of the pioneers who represented the Caribbean island at the 1988 Games as told in the movie "Cool Runnings".

Indonesia on Thursday ordered 42 Rafale fighter jets from France and may acquire two French submarines, as Paris and Jakarta seek to strengthen military ties in the face of growing tensions in the Asia-Pacific.

The 15-year-old figure skating sensation Kamila Valieva, who led Russia to team gold at the Beijing Olympics this week, tested positive for a banned heart medication before the Games, Russian media have reported.

The road meandering towards Gaza Valley is notorious for the stench of pollution choking the plant and animal life that once flourished in the Palestinian enclave's biggest wetland.

France's gender equality minister threw her support on Thursday behind Muslim women footballers who are seeking to overturn a ban on players wearing headscarves on the pitch.

Bangladeshi national cricketer Nasir Hossain has gone on trial charged with adultery after a man claimed the batsman illegally married his wife, lawyers said Thursday.

Ireland's talismanic captain Johnny Sexton will miss this weekend's Six Nations clash with France in Paris due to a hamstring injury, the Irish Rugby Football Union (IRFU) said on Thursday.

Global steel giant ArcelorMittal posted on Thursday a record annual profit in 2021 but warned that reducing its carbon emissions posed a financial risk to the group.

French energy giant TotalEnergies on Thursday rebounded from the Covid crisis with a huge 2021 profit as oil and gas prices soared -- a performance that raised political hackles in an election year in France.

An award-winning Ugandan author and fierce government critic who fled the country after being "tortured" in custody told AFP on Thursday he planned to return home despite his ordeal.

The eviction of a hundred Lenca indigenous families in Honduras was stopped Wednesday at the request of President Xiomara Castro after dozens of police officers tried to remove them.

Religious police in northern Nigeria's city of Kano have destroyed nearly four milllion bottles of beer, on grounds that sale and consumption of alcohol is prohibited in the predominantly Muslim region.

French President Emmanuel Macron is set to throw his support behind a massive nuclear power plant programme on Thursday despite concerns about the cost and complexity of building new reactors.

India's most populous state went to the polls Thursday in a key popularity test for Prime Minister Narendra Modi's Hindu nationalist government.

Third-grader Maria Shanovska is mulling which toy to pack in her emergency evacuation bag should the Russian forces massing at the border invade her war-shattered town in east Ukraine.

A northern Swiss region will vote Sunday on whether non-human primates should enjoy some of the same basic fundamental rights as their human cousins.

Switzerland goes to the polls Sunday to decide whether animal and human testing should be banned -- a proposal that has triggered an outcry in a country heavily reliant on big pharma.

Nathan Chen won a dominant figure skating gold for his first Olympic title with reigning champion Yuzuru Hanyu falling twice on the ice and failing to win a medal in Beijing on Thursday.

Police and anti-vaccine protesters clashed on the grounds of New Zealand's parliament Thursday, with more than 120 arrested after demonstrators who camped outside the legislature for three days were ordered to move on.

The man behind the Beijing Winter Olympics mascot jokes that he wished he had kept a few more of his cuddly panda creations after they became highly sought after collectables in China.

Big brands who in recent years have sat out the TV advertising frenzy around the biggest US sporting event -- the Super Bowl -- are returning in force Sunday and forking out millions for prime spots.

When Chinese freestyle skier Eileen Gu won an Olympic gold on Tuesday with a stunning jump, only one thing threatened to overshadow the show -- the massive industrial cooling towers behind her, an unusual backdrop for a winter sport.

The streaming television race is heating up, with Disney showing Wednesday it is closing the gap with market leader Netflix, whose stride has slowed.

US comedian and actor Bob Saget, whose sudden death last month at a Florida hotel shocked Hollywood, was determined to have died of head trauma, his family revealed in a statement Wednesday.

For Farah al-Malki, growing coffee plants in Saudi Arabia's southwestern region of Jizan is more than just a profession. It is a family tradition passed down from generation to generation.

The Omicron variant coronavirus entered Tonga for the first time in the wake of last month's volcanic eruption, officials confirmed Thursday, as the number of Covid-19 cases in the kingdom almost doubled to 64.

President Joe Biden declared victory too early the last time that Covid seemed to be ending in the United States. This time, he risks being late.

Her 118th birthday wish is "to die soon". But in the meantime, Lucile Randon, better-known as "Sister Andre", always keeps her door open for any visitor who might want to say hello.

Some are men of arms, who have taken up a gun out of need or for a cause. Others are just ordinary civilians, struggling to survive from one day to the next and make sense of the mayhem.