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The stain of Catholic child abuse looms over Pope Francis's visit to Belgium this week, but a lesser-known scandal still roils the country: the "forced adoption" of newborns taken from their mothers, with nuns' complicity.

The 595th-ranked Zhang Shuai, who earlier this week won her first match in more than 600 days, stunned US Open semi-finalist Emma Navarro 6-4, 6-2 in Beijing on Friday.

The Dallas Cowboys snapped a two-game skid with a 20-15 victory over NFC East rivals the New York Giants on Thursday to improve to 2-2 early in the NFL season.

The world's most populous nation India has a waste problem to match, but one group hopes their efforts can inspire change in one of the top polluters of plastic.

Italian rider Franco Morbidelli topped the times in Friday morning's free practice session at the Indonesia MotoGP, with his teammate and championship leader Jorge Martin back in third.

The "extremely dangerous" Hurricane Helene made landfall in the US state of Florida on Thursday, with officials warning of "unsurvivable" conditions and a potentially catastrophic storm surge high enough to swamp a two-story house.

China on Friday cut the amount banks must hold in reserve, releasing an estimated $142.6 billion in liquidity into the financial market as leaders embark on one of their biggest drives in years to kickstart growth.

Hong Kong and Shanghai ploughed on with their China-fuelled rally Friday on hopes that Beijing will press on with new plans to boost the world's number two economy.

France's new "top cop", the incoming interior minister, has been quick to set out his three priorities: "Order, order... and order."

Israel rejected a push by allies for a 21-day ceasefire in Lebanon and vowed to keep fighting Hezbollah militants "until victory", ahead of Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu's expected address to the UN General Assembly on Friday.

French rugby hero Antoine Dupont spent the tail end of his post-Olympics vacation checking out the NFL's Los Angeles Chargers but said he does not see a shift to American football in his future.

Pope Francis is expected to meet Belgian victims of clerical sex abuse on Friday as he embarks on a three-day visit to the country partially overshadowed by the Catholic Church's dark past.

A year after the October 7 attack that sparked war in Gaza, diplomacy has failed to produce a ceasefire and the world watches on as the death toll mounts.

New York star Aaron Judge belted his Major League-leading 58th home run and Giancarlo Stanton homered and drove in four runs as the Yankees clinched their 21st division title with a 10-1 victory over the Baltimore Orioles on Thursday.

Cuban President Miguel Diaz-Canel held talks with his Vietnamese counterpart To Lam in Havana on Thursday, with the two countries signing several bilateral agreements during the visit.

Spanish and European champions Real Madrid were unstoppable last season, unless they were facing city rivals Atletico Madrid.

Pulling the strings in Saturday's early Bundesliga title showdown between Bayern Munich and Bayer Leverkusen will be 21-year-old Germany forwards Jamal Musiala and Florian Wirtz.

Current and former Springboks have rallied behind under-fire South Africa fly-half Manie Libbok ahead of a Rugby Championship title decider against Argentina in Mbombela on Saturday.

A New Zealand enthusiast spent half a century amassing one of the world's largest private butterfly collections. As death nears, he has handed this life's work of 20,000 specimens to a museum.

Mexico's incoming president Claudia Sheinbaum will inherit an economy plagued by uncertainty after reforms pushed through by her predecessor upset investors and key regional trading partners.

With incendiary, misleading posts to his 200 million followers, Elon Musk has courted criticism for cranking up the political temperature ahead of an already polarized US election through his influential platform that is plagued with misinformation.

Australia captain Harry Wilson on Friday demanded a strong start from his side this weekend in Wellington as the Wallabies hunt a rare away win over New Zealand.

A four-decade-old moratorium on commercial whaling will remain in force after a proposal to overturn it was withdrawn Thursday at a meeting of the International Whaling Commission (IWC) in Peru's capital Lima.

Manchester City must prove they can cope without influential midfielder Rodri as the Premier League champions head to Newcastle.

Daniel Ricciardo thanked fans on Friday for a "wild and wonderful" Formula One journey after being axed by the RB team and replaced by New Zealand prodigy Liam Lawson for the rest of the 2024 season.

The US National Transportation Safety Board (NTSB) on Thursday issued "urgent safety recommendations" regarding the rudder systems on certain Boeing 737 aircraft, highlighting a risk of jamming.

Top-ranked Scottie Scheffler and South Korea's Tom Kim got involved in a spat that rankled feelings on Thursday as the United States swept to a 5-0 lead at the Presidents Cup.

Across the northern Florida coast, most small towns were deserted on Thursday, with stores closed and windows boarded up to protect against the high winds and potentially devastating storm surge of Hurricane Helene.

Somali-Canadian rapper K'naan, whose megahit "Wavin' Flag" became an anthem for the 2010 soccer World Cup, was charged Thursday with sexual assault in Quebec City, according to local media.

Japan's ruling party will choose the nation's leader in a vote on Friday, with three frontrunners: the surfing son of a former prime minister, a veteran defence geek and an arch-nationalist who would be the country's first woman premier.

French President Emmanuel Macron and Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau on Thursday expressed their shared vision, from working towards "open and decarbonized" economies, and promoting the French language, to calling for a ceasefire in Lebanon.

Kamala Harris criticized her US election rival Donald Trump's "surrender" policy on Ukraine on Thursday, while the Republican said he would meet Ukraine's president despite a bitter row over the war with Russia.