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Authorities in Pakistan's capital blocked main access routes to the city with double-stacked shipping containers Thursday ahead of a weekend demonstration by supporters of jailed former prime minister Imran Khan.

Japan's 11-year-old eSports whizz-kid Yuki Kurihara crushed the competition on his Asian Games debut on Thursday, beating opponents almost three times his age.

In Sao Tome and Principe, one issue towers above all others ahead of Sunday's elections in the tiny island nation in the Gulf of Guinea: how to stop young people from leaving.

A year after igniting protests that forced the president from power, Madagascar's Gen Z activists say they feel betrayed by a new government they accuse of resorting to the same old tactics.

As Eastern Europe's power sector has taken a hit from a record drought, Bulgaria has benefitted from building out battery storage capacity alongside its rapid solar expansion.

The first days of autumn chill have only barely set in over Kyiv, but winter is already dominating conversations among residents, who are making plans in case Russian strikes once again knock out the energy system.

The Mexican "tourists" told immigration officers in Johannesburg they had come to see the "Big Five" of South Africa's game parks -- the elephants, rhinos, lions, leopards and buffaloes that draw millions every year.

Kabaddi has its roots in ancient rural communities in South Asia and India is the superpower, but Japan has developed a niche taste for the team contact sport -- thanks to a comic.

China's 13-year-old swimming prodigy Yu Zidi has stamped her mark all over the Asian Games and she could cause a sensation at the Los Angeles Olympics in two years' time.

Thailand are the latest country to slam the organisation at the Aichi-Nagoya Asian Games in Japan, likening it to a "chaotic" game of "musical chairs".

Former NFL star Antonio Brown will accept a plea deal to avoid a potential 30-year prison sentence in his attempted murder case stemming from a shooting last year, his lawyer said Wednesday.

North Korea will keep its nuclear weapons "forever", its foreign minister vowed Thursday, dismissing the South Korean president's renewed calls for a denuclearised Korean Peninsula.

As a Rohingya exile who abandoned his life in Malaysia to return to Myanmar, Ismail's bleak prospects may portend what awaits others caught in Kuala Lumpur's migrant crackdown.

Asian markets were mixed on Thursday as traders eyed a high-stakes summit between US President Donald Trump and Chinese leader Xi Jinping set to focus on AI, trade and the Middle East war.

An overnight airstrike hit the southern Afghan city of Kandahar, home to the Taliban government's supreme leader, a resident told AFP early Thursday.

The Swiss will vote Sunday on a heavily debated proposal to tighten their country's traditional neutrality, amid fears that an expected "no" could be interpreted abroad as abandoning the cherished principle altogether.

The tsunami-like flood that cut a swathe of destruction through Nepal on August 26 has left the Himalayan nation grappling with heavy losses and mounting reconstruction needs.

Nepal's rapper-turned-prime minister swept to power six months ago on a wave of youth-led anti-corruption protests, buoyed by optimism for change.

As Nepal's prime minister heads to the United Nations seeking climate justice, survivors of the catastrophic floods that tore through Himalayan valleys are counting on the young leader to give voice to their grief.

World champions Spain's visit to Wembley on Saturday is a painful reminder to England of what might have been, but Thomas Tuchel needs a positive response to silence criticism of how the Three Lions' World Cup ended.

The Trump administration has acknowledged eight suicide attempts by US service members during the extended deployment of an aircraft carrier to the Middle East, a US lawmaker revealed on Wednesday.

Feeling a little nervous, 21-year-old Thao Bounlay raps three times on the glass door of a church near Paris, declaring to the parish his decision to be baptised.

When a famous Iranian director sets out to make a movie about men having to live as women, she quickly finds that her actors struggle with the restrictions placed on the female half of society.

Stores and schools closed and drivers mostly stayed off the roads Wednesday as the Colombian city of Santa Marta limped back to normal after a wave of drug-gang violence prompted a deployment of army troops.

An ancient wall discovered in central Paris was hailed as a "major breakthrough" on Wednesday, as the archaeological find may have settled a long-standing debate about the location of the city's original settlement.

Iranian airlines were forced to cancel some international flights on Wednesday after the United States tightened sanctions on Iran's aviation industry in a new effort to cripple its economy.

Morocco's parliamentary election drew a turnout of 38 percent, authorities said on Wednesday, marking the lowest level in almost two decades as the kingdom struggled with voter apathy amid social crises.

Meta unveiled several new wearables powered by its artificial intelligence (AI) models on Wednesday, including an audio-only, camera-free version of its smart glasses, amid global concerns about privacy and the filming of women and girls without their consent.

A North Korean IT worker used a fake identity to obtain remote work with a New Zealand company and then threatened to release sensitive information when exposed, Wellington's cybersecurity agency said Thursday.

An autonomous OpenAI program infiltrated an Australian government health website in June in an "unacceptable" breach, Prime Minister Anthony Albanese said.

US artificial intelligence startup Anthropic on Wednesday unveiled the first discovery from its molecular biology lab, a previously unknown enzyme system spotted by its Claude model and touted by the company as proof that AI can speed up basic research.

US President Donald Trump treated Chinese President Xi Jinping to a rare personal airport welcome Wednesday, kicking off a pomp-filled state visit aimed at smoothing superpower tensions on everything from AI and trade to Iran.