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A top EU court on Wednesday ruled to lift sanctions against Russian ex-Formula 1 driver Nikita Mazepin, whose career was brought to a halt by Moscow's invasion of Ukraine.

Chinese internet giant Tencent on Wednesday posted its lowest annual profit since 2019, despite slight improvements recently in China's economy and a more lenient attitude taken by regulators towards the tech sector.

Virat Kohli and Rishabh Pant will be under scrutiny on their return to action as the Indian Premier League begins on Friday, with the T20 World Cup hot on its heels.

Son Heung-min said Wednesday that the Asian Cup bust-up with Lee Kang-in had brought the South Korean team closer, on the eve of a World Cup qualifier against Thailand.

Britain's annual inflation rate fell more than expected in February, official data showed Wednesday, fuelling speculation that the Bank of England will start cutting interest rates in the coming months.

Apple CEO Tim Cook was on a China charm offensive Wednesday ahead of a new flagship Shanghai store opening, weeks after a report suggested the company's sales in the country slumped at the start of 2024.

China blasted critics of Hong Kong's new national security law on Wednesday, after Western powers and the United Nations said it would further curtail freedoms in the city.

EU member states and lawmakers on Wednesday reached a deal to cap duty-free imports of some Ukrainian grains, which were allowed in the wake of Russia's invasion but have drawn fierce protests from farmers in the bloc.

Virat Kohli and Rishabh Pant will be under scrutiny on their return to action as the Indian Premier League begins on Friday, with the T20 World Cup hot on its heels.

South Korea on Wednesday announced the allocation of 2,000 new medical school admissions slots nationwide every year, moving ahead with a reform plan to create more doctors despite a crippling month-long strike by medics opposed to it.

Asian markets mostly rose Wednesday as traders tracked another record day on Wall Street ahead of the Federal Reserve's policy meeting, while the yen further weakened a day after Japan's rare interest rate hike.

Photographer to the stars Annie Leibovitz, inducted into the French Academy of Fine Arts on Wednesday, told AFP that AI was not a threat to her trade -- just another artistic tool.

In a tiny television studio in the French capital, two unveiled Afghan women face the camera on a mission to provide a lifeline to their fellow countrywomen back home.

Sequestered at home in a remote Afghan town, 18-year-old Shekiba often roams the house hunting for the patchy internet signal that is her last link to an education.

Every day, farmer Nguyen Hoai Thuong prays in vain for rain to fall on the cracked dry earth of her garden in Vietnam's Mekong Delta -- the country's "rice bowl" agricultural heartland.

The lakeside mansion where Myanmar's democracy leader Aung San Suu Kyi spent years under house arrest went under auction on Wednesday with a minimum price of $150 million -- but attracted no bids, officials said.

Former NBA champion Jeremy Lin has been banned for five games for violating anti-doping rules over blood treatment for an injury, Taiwan's P. League+ said.

China lashed out against critics of Hong Kong's new national security law on Wednesday, accusing the British government of having the "mindset of a coloniser" and condemning the EU's "hypocritical" position.

Brazil's justice system on Wednesday will decide whether former Manchester City and Real Madrid striker Robinho will serve his nine-year rape sentence, handed down by an Italian court, in the South American country.

A Texas law that would allow state police to arrest and deport migrants who cross illegally into the United States from Mexico was again placed on hold late Tuesday, the latest in an ongoing legal back-and-forth over its fate.

Asian markets mostly rose Wednesday as traders tracked another record day on Wall Street, with focus squarely on the Federal Reserve's policy meeting.

Ex-England flanker Brad Shields and All Blacks centre Jordie Barrett will return for the Wellington Hurricanes when the Super Rugby leaders host the mid-table Melbourne Rebels on Friday.

US Secretary of State Antony Blinken was due to return Wednesday to the Middle East in a new bid to secure a truce in the Israel-Hamas war.

A plastic statue of Kentucky Fried Chicken's founder Colonel Sanders that was a lucky charm for superstitious Japanese baseball fans has been "disposed of" 15 years after being dredged out of an Osaka river, the firm said.

Head coach Rob Penney on Wednesday compared the Canterbury Crusaders to a misfiring engine as the defending champions look to snap their horror start to the Super Rugby season.

Nikola Jokic scored 35 points as the Denver Nuggets held off a second-half rally by the Minnesota Timberwolves to record a 115-112 victory over their Western Conference rivals on Tuesday.

As Playmobil turns 50, the German company behind the popular plastic figures is hoping that pop megastar Taylor Swift can help it shake off a slump in fortunes.

Japan has warned football fans not to attempt to travel to "hostile" North Korea for next week's World Cup qualifier in Pyongyang.

China and Australia claimed to have stabilised long-strained relations after talks in Canberra on Wednesday, despite tensions over a high-profile prisoner, trade and China's crackdowns in Hong Kong and elsewhere remaining evident.

Asian markets fluctuated Wednesday as traders struggled to track another record day on Wall Street, with focus squarely on the Federal Reserve's policy meeting.

Seven million Senegalese are due to head to the polls on Sunday to vote in a wide open presidential election following weeks of chaos and uncertainty.

North Korean leader Kim Jong Un oversaw a successful test of a solid-fuel engine for a "new-type intermediate-range hypersonic missile", Pyongyang's state media said Wednesday.