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Japanese Prime Minister Fumio Kishida announced a stimulus package worth more than $100 billion on Thursday as he tries to ease the squeeze from inflation and rescue his premiership with his poll ratings at a record low.

Welsh back Leigh Halfpenny is set to join defending Super Rugby Pacific champions Canterbury Crusaders for the 2024 season, a source close to the Christchurch-based club told AFP on Thursday.

Working as a nurse in her rural Nigerian village, Andat Datau faced more than her share of challenges. But delivering babies by torchlight was always hard.

The Texas Rangers captured the World Series for the first time in the team's 63-year history on Wednesday, defeating Arizona 5-0 to complete a historic playoff championship run.

The defending NBA champion Denver Nuggets crashed to their first defeat of the season in an upset 110-89 loss to the Minnesota Timberwolves on Wednesday, while Boston extended their unbeaten start with a brutal thrashing of Indiana.

Uruguay's foreign minister resigned abruptly Wednesday, after the release of recordings in which he allegedly seeks to cover up information involving Sebastian Marset, an accused cocaine trafficker and subject of an international manhunt.

Stocks and oil prices rose while the dollar weakened Thursday as a much-needed burst of confidence flows across world markets after the Federal Reserve hinted it has come to the end of its long-running interest rate hiking cycle.

The Bank of England was expected Thursday to keep its interest rate on hold for a second successive meeting, as Britain battles stubbornly high inflation and weak economic growth.

One of the world's most famous music bands, The Beatles, are back 53 years after they broke up with a "new" record to be released Thursday.

A new Beatles song produced with a little help from artificial intelligence and including the vocals of John Lennon will be released on Thursday, more than four decades after it was originally recorded as a demo.

Flags flew at half-mast in Beijing on Thursday as China prepared for the funeral of late ex-premier Li Keqiang, a reform-minded bureaucrat who was once tipped as the country's future leader but was eclipsed by Xi Jinping.

The Cesena Torinese bobsleigh track has been dormant for over a decade since being built for the 2006 Winter Olympics but is ready to come to the aid of the troubled Milan-Cortina edition in just under two years' time.

Cucho Hernandez scored twice as Columbus Crew defeated Atlanta United 2-0 in the opening game of their best-of-three MLS Eastern Conference playoff series on Wednesday.

Australian police on Thursday arrested the woman at the centre of a mushroom meal mystery that left three people dead and a local preacher fighting for his life.

While the stakes could hardly be higher for American democracy, voters are increasingly turned off by the apparently inevitable rematch between Joe Biden and Donald Trump.

A former shoeshine boy now worth hundreds of millions of dollars, Luiz Barsi has been called the "Brazilian Warren Buffet" for his ultrasharp investing acumen.

Nearly half the world's countries are seeing the level of democracy decline, an international think tank said Thursday.

Prosecutors and defense lawyers set out their competing visions of cryptocurrency's former golden boy Sam Bankman-Fried in the closing arguments of his blockbuster trial on Wednesday.

World number two Iga Swiatek defeated third-ranked Coco Gauff 6-0, 7-5 in a showdown of reigning Grand Slam champions on Wednesday in a group-stage match at the WTA Finals.

Out with the Bachman's Sparrow and the Couch's Kingbird -- the top authority in North American birding is ditching human names in a move to cut ties between the feathered creatures and the misdeeds of those whose names they carry.

Manchester United's defence of the League Cup came to a limp end in a 3-0 home defeat by Newcastle on Wednesday as Arsenal were well-beaten 3-1 at West Ham.

Embattled flexible workspace provider WeWork is in "selective default" after failing to meet conditions set by debt holders, ratings agency S&P said Wednesday.

President Joe Biden said Wednesday that the first US citizens were able to leave the war-hit Gaza Strip after weeks of diplomacy and mounting frustration by hundreds of US citizens trapped in the conflict.

Bayern Munich crashed out of the German Cup in the second round for the third time in four years after a remarkable 2-1 loss at third-division Saarbruecken on Wednesday, thanks to a last-minute winner from Marcel Gaus.

The Walt Disney Company on Wednesday announced it will buy Comcast's $8.6 billion stake in Hulu, completing its takeover of the streaming service.

Wall Street stocks rallied while the dollar pulled back against the yen as the Federal Reserve kept interest rates steady, opting against hiking for the second straight time.

The European Data Protection Board said Wednesday it had adopted a binding decision that will ban Facebook and Instagram owner Meta from using the personal data of users for targeted ads without their explicit consent.

Novak Djokovic returned to the court on Wednesday, cruising past Tomas Martin Etcheverry 6-3, 6-2 and strengthening his hold on top spot in the rankings after his two closest rivals both lost at the Paris Masters.

Football superstar Neymar will undergo surgery Thursday in his native Brazil after tearing a ligament and meniscus in his left knee during a national team match last month, the Brazilian Football Confederation (CBF) said Wednesday.

Tropical Storm Pilar loomed ominously off the Pacific Coast of Central America on Wednesday, provoking heavy rains that washed away crops and displaced hundreds of people as the death toll rose to four.

Pope Francis on Wednesday said he would attend the crucial COP28 climate talks starting in Dubai on November 30, weeks after warning that time is running out to act on global warming.

The judge in the sprawling US gang conspiracy trial of rapper Young Thug and several others on Wednesday seated a jury after a glacial selection that lasted nearly 10 months, local media said.