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Major Taiwanese government websites were temporarily forced offline by cyber attacks believed to be linked to China and Russia during US House Speaker Nancy Pelosi's visit to the island, Taipei said Thursday.

A charred chunk of space junk found jutting from a paddock by an Australian sheep farmer was confirmed to be part of one of Elon Musk's SpaceX missions by authorities Thursday.

Asian markets on Thursday tracked a Wall Street rally fuelled by healthy economic and earnings data, while traders kept a wary eye on Chinese military drills around Taiwan.

A Japanese journalist detained in Myanmar has been charged with breaching immigration law and encouraging dissent against the military, the junta said Thursday.

An out-of-tune Bangladeshi singer with a huge internet following was hauled in by police at dawn and told to cease his painful renditions of classical songs, sparking a furore on social media.

Soldiers on Ukraine's eastern front have spent five exhausting months under Russian bombardment, measuring out the long days and longer nights in the metronomic cadence of relentless artillery fire.

When a United Nations committee ruled Nahia Alkorta had suffered obstetric violence during the birth of her first child, it was the culmination of a 10-year quest for justice.

In a wave tank at a robot laboratory in the Scottish capital Edinburgh, engineers observe in silence as an underwater drone rises stealthily to the surface.

Kenya's William Ruto, the sharp-suited deputy president now running for the top office, is one of the wealthiest men in the country but likes to portray himself as a champion of the poor and downtrodden.

Raila Amolo Odinga, a veteran Kenyan political leader and one-time prime minister, has long cast himself as an anti-establishment firebrand, despite belonging to one of the country's top political dynasties.

Once a street child in Nairobi and a grave digger in Britain, George Luchiri Wajackoyah barged onto the political scene with a "bhang": vowing to legalise marijuana, breed snakes and sell hyena testicles to China to offset Kenya's mammoth debt.

Parts of Australia's beleaguered Great Barrier Reef now have the highest levels of coral cover seen in decades, a government report said Thursday, suggesting the aquatic wonder could survive given the chance.

On a beach in the Chinese coastal city of Xiamen, just a few kilometres from an island controlled by the Taiwanese authorities, life is carefree despite some of the worst cross-strait tensions in decades.

Bridges collapsed and rivers burst their banks as heavy rain lashed northern Japan on Thursday, with 200,000 residents urged to evacuate as authorities warned of dangerous flooding.

Toyota upgraded its annual net profit forecast on Thursday, predicting an earnings boost from the weaker yen even after first-quarter net profit took a hit from pandemic-related supply chain issues.

Model Chrissy Teigen and her award-winning singer husband John Legend said Wednesday that the couple is expecting another child, nearly two years after announcing her miscarriage.

World number one Daniil Medvedev, playing his first match in six weeks, beat Australian qualifier Rinky Hijikata 6-4, 6-3 on Wednesday at the ATP hard court tournament in Los Cabos, Mexico.

Chinese military exercises around Taiwan are set to disrupt one of the world's busiest shipping zones, analysts told AFP, highlighting the island's critical position in already stretched global supply chains.

Second-seeded Paula Badosa survived a scare on the way to a 6-2, 5-7, 7-6 (7/5) victory over US qualifier Elizabeth Mandlik on Wednesday in the WTA hardcourt tournament in San Jose, California.

China's largest-ever military exercises encircling Taiwan kicked off Thursday, in a show of force straddling vital international shipping lanes after a visit to the island by US House Speaker Nancy Pelosi.

After her high-profile trip to Taiwan, US House Speaker Nancy Pelosi was in South Korea Thursday and her agenda included a visit to the border with the nuclear-armed North, an official told AFP.

Rescuers battled Wednesday to free about 10 workers believed to be trapped in a coal mine in northern Mexico, while three others were found alive, authorities said.

From the ancient alleys of Jerusalem's Old City to kitchens around the world, Palestinians are stirring new trends in cooking while abiding by traditions.

Asian markets on Thursday tracked a Wall Street rally fuelled by healthy economic and earnings data, while there was some relief that Nancy Pelosi's Taiwan trip did not elicit a harsher response from China despite grave warnings from Beijing.

Crisis-hit Lebanon marks two years Thursday since a massive explosion ripped through Beirut, with victims' relatives planning protest marches as they keep demanding truth and justice.

Arsenal's trip to Crystal Palace lifts the curtain on the new Premier League season on Friday, with Erling Haaland's debut in the English top flight the highlight of the weekend as champions Manchester City travel to West Ham.

'Tu, tu, Tuvalu' echoed around the beach volleyball stadium at the Commonwealth Games as spectators shouted their support for the team from the tiny Pacific island nation on the frontline of climate change.

Rescuers battled Wednesday to free around nine workers believed to be trapped in a coal mine in northern Mexico, President Andres Manuel Lopez Obrador said.

Inside an old oak barrel, Ecuadoran bioengineer Javier Carvajal found the fungus of fortune: a 400-year-old yeast specimen that he has since managed to resurrect and use to reproduce what is believed to be Latin America's oldest beer.

The 2022/23 Ligue 1 season kicks off this weekend with Paris Saint-Germain overwhelming favourites to win what would be a record 11th French title following Kylian Mbappe's decision to snub Real Madrid and remain with the Qatar-owned club.

MotoGP returns from its mid-summer break with championship leader Fabio Quartararo aiming to resume his own winning streak while ending the long run of different victors at Silverstone.

Every time it rains, Blanca Arias in El Salvador and Sandra Ramos in Honduras fear that flooding will raze their precarious homes and leave their families destitute. Again.