New Zealand's women kicked off the defence of their World Cup Sevens crown in ominous fashion on Friday, thrashing Mexico and Ireland to seal their place in the last four without conceding a point.

Nine people were injured in an attack by a man wielding a knife on a bus in northern Germany, officials said, although his motive remained unclear.

The dollar slid against the euro and pound Friday as US President Donald Trump adopted an aggressive posture on trade and foreign exchange, stoking talk of a currency war in addition to a trade war.

Overnight pacesetter Kevin Kisner and former champion Zach Johnson shared the lead at the halfway stage of the British Open on Friday, with Tommy Fleetwood right in contention behind them.

Israeli forces unleashed a wave of deadly strikes across the Gaza Strip on Friday after a soldier was shot dead along the border.

President Donald Trump was secretly taped two months before the 2016 election discussing a payment to hush up an alleged affair with a Playboy model and the FBI has the recording, bombshell reports claimed Friday.

President Donald Trump on Friday launched a fresh attack on American trading partners, saying the EU and China were manipulating their currencies, and he threatened to hit all imports from China with high tariffs.

A tourist boat capsized and sank in a sudden storm on a lake in Missouri, leaving 17 dead, including some children, authorities said Friday after divers recovered the bodies of the last people who were missing.

A man was killed Friday in a new day of protests in Iraq, a medical source said, as authorities struggle to contain social unrest which has reached the capital Baghdad.

Pop superstar Taylor Swift will take to the silver screen alongside Jennifer Hudson in a film adaptation of the popular hit musical "Cats," reports said Friday.

Novichok poisoning victim Charlie Rowley was discharged from a British hospital on Friday as police continued to piece together how the nerve agent claimed the life of his partner Dawn Sturgess.

Israeli aircraft and tanks hit targets across the Gaza Strip Friday after shots were fired at troops on the border, the army said, with Hamas reporting three members of its military wing killed.

French President Emmanuel Macron, trying to curb the most damaging scandal of his presidency so far, on Friday fired a top security aide who has been taken into custody after videos emerged showing him strike a young man during a demonstration in Paris in May.

Hackers have stolen the health records of 1.5 million Singaporeans including Prime Minister Lee Hsien Loong, authorities said Friday, with the leader specifically targeted in the city-state's biggest ever data breach.

Tour de France director Christian Prudhomme has demanded fans show more respect a day after Team Sky were booed off the podium and Vincenzo Nibali crashed out when his bike got tangled up.

US President Donald Trump said in an interview released Friday he is willing to hit all Chinese goods imported to the United States with tariffs if necessary.

A heatwave in Japan that has killed more than a dozen people is reviving concerns about the Tokyo 2020 Olympics, which will be held during the country's notoriously sweltering summer.

WhatsApp announced limits on Friday on the forwarding of messages by its 200 million Indian users in an effort to stop a spate of horrific lynchings and to assuage government threats of legal action in its biggest market.

The office of French President Emmanuel Macron told AFP on Friday that it has begun dismissal proceedings against a top security aide who violently struck a protester during a demonstration in Paris in May.

Prime Minister Theresa May has survived a frenzied fortnight of rebellion that threatened to unseat her, but must now sell her Brexit plan to voters and the European Union.

A high school drop-out dubbed the "Michael Jordan of eSports" has helped make South Korea a major power in video-gaming -- and is now leading its push to be recognised by the mainstream.

Brazilian superstar Neymar on Thursday sought to quash speculation about his future, insisting he planned to remain with French giants Paris Saint-Germain.

The World Cup may be over but passion for the game burns bright in the world's largest refugee camp, where Brazil and Argentina flags still flutter alongside the red and green of Bangladesh, which hosts nearly a million Rohingya Muslims forced out of Myanmar.

US President Donald Trump, under fire over his Helsinki summit with Vladimir Putin, doubled down Thursday by saying he looks forward to meeting the Russian leader again -- with talks already underway for a visit to Washington in the fall.

President Donald Trump has instructed his national security advisor to invite Russian President Vladimir Putin to visit Washington later this year, the White House said Thursday.

One of President Emmanuel Macron's top security officers was at the centre of an escalating scandal for the French leader on Thursday after being filmed assaulting a protester during a May Day demonstration.

British police believe they have identified the suspects who carried out the Novichok nerve agent attack on a former Moscow double agent and his daughter and that they are Russian, the Press Association news agency reported Thursday.

The number of drunk mostly British and Irish tourists ending up in hospital in Spain's Balearic Islands after jumping from balconies has spiked this year, a surgeon who has studied the dangerous craze warned Friday.

Human Rights Watch (HRW) on Friday called on Brazilian lawmakers to reject a proposed law to relax regulations on the use of pesticides as it published a report blaming powerful landowners for the poisoning of rural residents.

Japan on Friday enacted a controversial law to allow casinos that the government says will boost tourism and growth but was bitterly opposed by the opposition.

Israel is set for nationwide strike action on Sunday over new legislation denying surrogacy to gay couples, with a trade union urging employers to let their staff join the walkout.

A heatwave in Japan that has killed more than a dozen people is reviving concerns about the Tokyo 2020 Olympics, which will be held during the country's notoriously sweltering summer.

Nestled high in the mountains of Lesotho, skiers and snowboarders from around the world rub shoulders at Africa's leading ski resort, which is cultivating a loyal clientele despite its diminutive size and remote location.

Blessed with a coastline that stretches for hundreds of kilometres across flat sandy expanses and rugged coves, Morocco's beaches should be a magnet -- but a litter crisis risks repelling sun seekers, citizens say.

Ryanair pilots unhappy over pay and other work conditions carried out further strike action Friday, unions said, resulting in the cancellation of 24 flights between Ireland and the UK.

A high school drop-out dubbed the "Michael Jordan of eSports" has helped make South Korea a major power in video-gaming -- and is now leading its push to be recognised by the mainstream.

Thousands of experts and activists descend on Amsterdam Monday to bolster the battle against AIDS amid warnings that "dangerous complacency" may cause a resurgence of the epidemic that has already killed 35 million people.

The World Cup may be over but passion for the game burns bright in the world's largest refugee camp, where Brazil and Argentina flags still flutter alongside the red and green of Bangladesh, which hosts nearly a million Rohingya Muslims forced out of Myanmar.

Luxury British fashion house Burberry destroyed tens of millions of dollars worth of its fashion and cosmetic products over the past year to protect its brand.

When a stricken Southwest Airlines jet was expertly landed after an emergency descent in April, saving 148 lives, it was a surprise to some that a woman was at the controls.

French lawmakers have secured a deal on a bill that would outlaw the use of mobiles phones in schools starting in September, one of Emmanuel Macron's pledges during last year's presidential campaign.

Drinking a bowl of seawater followed by a glass of champagne, four French officers stood out during the traditional "baptism" to mark their inaugural submarine patrol: the first women to join a crew in the country's nuclear-powered fleet.

Their violent kicks rattle the small army plane flying over Siberia as it transports the four rare horses from Prague to the vast Mongolian steppe where the once near-extinct species is slowly recovering.

When Kim Eun-hee was 10 years old, a primary school child with dreams of tennis stardom, her coach raped her for the first time. Then he did it again. And again. And again.

They have a dream: to "cross the water" -- the Mediterranean -- and reach the Eldorado of Europe.

The Lebanese parliament will soon review legislation to legalise medicinal marijuana, its speaker announced on Wednesday, as authorities seek ways to jumpstart the country's struggling economy.

German MPs have blasted a World Cup promotion by Nutella chocolate spread, after they worked out people would have to scoff almost 16 kilos of the sugary treat to earn a football.

The head of the UN's AIDS agency, Michel Sidibe, on Wednesday rejected calls for his resignation over complaints that he shielded a deputy from sexual harassment claims and attacked whistleblowers.

Great strides in preventing AIDS deaths and new infections risk being halted, even reversed, if funding and focus continues to dwindle, the UN warned Wednesday.

The Chinese manufacturer of a widely used blood pressure medication said it had launched a global recall after US and European regulators warned of contamination by a cancer-causing impurity.

Almost three in five people infected with HIV, or 21.7 million globally, took antiretroviral therapy in 2017 -- a new record for anti-AIDS drug access, the UN's HIV/AIDS agency said Wednesday.

A proposal to ban surfing on most of Australia's iconic Bondi Beach has triggered anger among the local boardriding community.

A proposal to ban surfing on most of Australia's iconic Bondi Beach has triggered anger among the local boardriding community.

A Brazilian celebrity butt-enhancement surgeon called Dr. Bumbum has gone on the run following the death of a patient just hours after undergoing cosmetic surgery at his home in Rio de Janeiro.

As the dust settles at Wimbledon, the real tennis action is under way: the world's best players of the original sport are duelling it out at the game's spiritual home.

New Zealand's women kicked off the defence of their World Cup Sevens crown in ominous fashion on Friday, thrashing Mexico and Ireland to seal their place in the last four without conceding a point.

England could be the last team to take on Sri Lanka at its famed Galle stadium, considered one of the world's most picturesque cricket grounds, when they tour in November.

Brittany Lincicome's bid to bounce back from a disappointing first round in her anticipated foray onto the US PGA Tour was held up by the weather on Friday.

Overnight pacesetter Kevin Kisner and former champion Zach Johnson shared the lead at the halfway stage of the British Open on Friday, with Tommy Fleetwood right in contention behind them.

US President Donald Trump again goaded the NFL over its handling of controversial national anthem protests on Friday, a day after the league said it would hold off on enforcing a new policy.

St. Louis slugger Matt Carpenter tied a Major League Baseball record on Friday with three home runs and two doubles in the Cardinals 18-5 victory over the Cubs in Chicago.

Number three Steve Johnson was the last seed standing in the ATP grass court tournament at Newport, Rhode Island, Friday, booking a semi-final berth as Marcel Granollers ousted top-seeded Adrian Mannarino.

Brittany Lincicome's bid to bounce back from a disappointing first round in her anticipated foray onto the US PGA Tour was being held up by the weather on Friday.

New American sprint hope Noah Lyles raced to a dominant 200m victory in Friday's Diamond League meet in Monaco, where South African Caster Semenya also shone in the 800m and Kenyan Beatrice Chepkoech smashed the steeplechase world record.

Tour de France sprint king Peter Sagan once borrowed a a beat-up bike from his sister on his way to dominating his rivals in a Slovak Cup event.

Kevin Kisner is hoping to win the biggest title of his career at Carnoustie, but he says his sparkling form at the British Open is not all down to the fact that he is sharing a house this week with five players who have already won majors.

Portugal's veteran central defender Jose Fonte has joined French Ligue 1 outfit Lille after a brief spell in China which followed a decade in the English Premier league.

Brief stories from the second round of the British Open at Carnoustie on Friday:

Team chief Fred Vasseur on Friday said he has not ruled out a swap deal with Ferrari that would see Kimi Raikkonen returning to Sauber and Charles Leclerc going the other way.

Liverpool's world-record signing of Alisson could trigger a reshuffle of goalkeepers at top clubs across Europe, with several others seemingly set for a move on the merry-go-round.

Yellow jersey holder Geraint Thomas hit back at the doubters on Friday by claiming Team Sky are racing "100 percent" clean at the Tour de France.

The world's top sports court on Friday overturned a European ban imposed on AC Milan for violating UEFA's financial fair play rules, calling the punishment "not proportionate."

The International Judo Federation on Friday suspended planned competitions in Tunisia and the United Arab Emirates after the hosts failed to confirm that Israeli athletes would receive equal treatment.

Fakhar Zaman became the first Pakistan player to hit a double century in one-day internationals as Pakistan cruised to a massive 244-run win over Zimbabwe in the fourth ODI at Queens Sports Club on Friday.

Germany's long-serving team doctor Hans-Wilhelm Mueller-Wohlfahrt quit on Friday after 23 years in the job, becoming the first casualty of the country's World Cup flop.

Slovakian Peter Sagan underlined his sprint credentials for the third time on the Tour de France Friday after powering to victory in the 13th stage from Bourg d'Oisans to Valence.

Kevin Kisner was set to take the outright clubhouse lead at the halfway stage of the British Open before a double-bogey at the 18th at Carnoustie forced him back alongside Zach Johnson at six under par.

Max Verstappen believes he can improve and challenge for pole position after clocking an outright lap record as Red Bull topped the times in Friday's practice for the German Grand Prix.

Fakhar Zaman became the first Pakistan player to hit a double century in one-day internationals as Pakistan crushed Zimbabwe by 244 runs to go 4-0 up in their one-day series on Friday.

Erik Lamela became the latest Tottenham star to sign a new contract as the Argentine playmaker agreed a four-year deal with the north London club on Friday.

The International Judo Federation on Friday suspended planned competitions in Tunisia and the United Arab Emirates after the hosts failed to confirm that Israeli athletes would receive equal treatment.

"Guardians of the Galaxy" franchise director James Gunn has been axed from the third movie over a series of offensive messages posted on Twitter several years ago.

Pop superstar Taylor Swift will take to the silver screen alongside Jennifer Hudson in a film adaptation of the popular hit musical "Cats," reports said Friday.

YouTube has offered the first glimpse of its new sci-fi thriller series fronted by "Harry Potter" star Tom Felton -- revealing it is an "Alien"-like horror story on an isolated ship.

A Kenyan court has sentenced a 24-year-old jail beauty queen to death for murdering her boyfriend by stabbing him 25 times, drawing criticism from rights groups who called the punishment "inhumane".

Art work, film memorabilia and personal items owned by the late actor Robin Williams will go under the hammer in New York this October, more than four years after his death, Sotheby's announced Friday.

Police in Kazakhstan's largest city Almaty have detained a suspect after the murder of Olympic figure skating hero Denis Ten, who won bronze at the 2014 Sochi Olympics, the city prosecutor said.

British actress Jodie Whittaker was unveiled Thursday as the first woman to play "Doctor Who," telling fans of the cult BBC series she felt the weight of history -- but that gender should be irrelevant.

Fox kicked off San Diego Comic-Con on Thursday with world premiere footage of its action horror retread "The Predator," showcasing a new supercharged alien hunter.

Award-winning photographer and filmmaker Lauren Greenfield has spent a quarter-century traveling the world to chronicle excessive consumerism in all its forms and the elusive pursuit of happiness.

Brazilian superstar Neymar on Thursday sought to quash speculation about his future, insisting he planned to remain with French giants Paris Saint-Germain.

DHL heir Larry Hillbroom Jr. was on the run in the Pacific island nation of Palau Friday after failing mandatory drug testing imposed as part of a trafficking sentence.

AMC's "Better Call Saul" made its debut at San Diego Comic-Con on Thursday, generating buzz among devotees with a new character from sleazy attorney Saul Goodman's future.

Award-winning composers lifted the lid on the sounds behind some of Hollywood's biggest blockbusters and hit TV shows as Comic-Con kicked off day one on Thursday.

Chance the Rapper has entered the news business by buying the Chicagoist website -- and announced the purchase through song Thursday.

"First Man", the hotly-awaited new film from Damien Chazelle -- Oscar-winning director of "La La Land" -- will kick off the 2018 Venice Film Festival, organisers announced Thursday.

Pop stalwart Rod Stewart returned Thursday with a wistful song about a child's struggles with drugs as the singer announced a new album.

As eight-year-old Eiki Shimabukuro left Japan in 1959 with his parents and five siblings for the two-month sea voyage to Brazil, passengers were given ribbons linking them to those who stayed behind.

Spanish basketball giant Marc Gasol, star of the NBA's Memphis Grizzlies, recounted the dramatic sea rescue of a migrant off the Libyan coast in which he took part, in a video sent to AFP Thursday.

Early arrivals at San Diego Comic-Con were treated to a preview night scream-fest Wednesday as New Line Cinema unleashed exclusive footage of its most hotly anticipated horror movies.

While foreign diplomats often struggle to win over ordinary Iraqis, Japan's departing ambassador has stolen hearts -- thanks to witty social media videos in classical Arabic and local dialects.

Nicaragua's first couple, President Daniel Ortega and his wife Vice President Rosario Murillo, tightened their grip on power after government forces seized an opposition stronghold on the eve of Thursday's Marxist revolution anniversary.

Like the Dark Knight without the gadgetry or Deadpool without the snark, The Equalizer is an avenging angel, delivering justice from the end of a steel-capped boot for those who have a problem and nowhere else to turn.

Harvey Weinstein's lawyers are calling on a US judge to dismiss a lawsuit from actress Ashley Judd -- who accuses the disgraced mogul of torpedoing her career -- on the grounds that she had made a sexual "deal" with him.

New York on Wednesday feted Billy Joel as he played a record 100th concert at Madison Square Garden, although the Piano Man himself was modest about his achievement.

Veteran British pop star Cliff Richard won a privacy case against the BBC on Wednesday after it broadcast live on television a police raid on his home, in a ruling the broadcaster warned threatened press freedom.

South Africa on Wednesday marked 100 years since Nelson Mandela's birth, with Barack Obama hosting a youth leadership project as Archbishop Desmond Tutu led emotional tributes to the late anti-apartheid icon.

The man at the centre of a sexual assault scandal that shook the Nobel Literature Prize giving body, which postponed this year's award, will go on trial in September on rape charges, a Swedish court said.

A fire that claimed the life of one firefighter and injured two others near California's Yosemite national park has almost doubled in size in three days, authorities said Friday.

Wildfires in the Arctic Circle, drought-stricken farmers and a spike in hospital treatment for sunburn: an unusually long heatwave this summer has northern Europe in its grip.

A heatwave in Japan that has killed more than a dozen people is reviving concerns about the Tokyo 2020 Olympics, which will be held during the country's notoriously sweltering summer.

Blessed with a coastline that stretches for hundreds of kilometres across flat sandy expanses and rugged coves, Morocco's beaches should be a magnet -- but a litter crisis risks repelling sun seekers, citizens say.

Australia announced plans Friday to explore concepts such as firing salt into clouds and covering swathes of water with a thin layer of film in a bid to save the embattled Great Barrier Reef.

Never mind Brexit: For a remote peninsula in the Scottish highlands, the buzz is all about hi-tech rocket launchers firing satellites into space.

As an unprecedented drought scorches large swathes of Sweden's green pastures, farmers are having to send their animals to slaughter because they have no hay left to feed them.

The US administration of President Donald Trump on Thursday proposed sweeping changes to the 45-year-old Endangered Species Act which would roll back protections for threatened animals, sparking alarm by environmentalists.

The Canadian provinces of Ontario and Saskatchewan said Thursday they would join forces in opposition to the federal carbon tax, in a setback to government efforts to reduce greenhouse gas emissions linked to climate change.

Neanderthal man knew how to make a fire by striking stone to create sparks, researchers said Thursday after analysing several tools found at sites in France dating from 50,000 years ago.

An Indonesian volcano known as the "child" of the legendary Krakatoa erupted on Thursday, spewing a plume of ash high into the sky as molten lava streamed down from its summit.

Drinking a bowl of seawater followed by a glass of champagne, four French officers stood out during the traditional "baptism" to mark their inaugural submarine patrol: the first women to join a crew in the country's nuclear-powered fleet.

Their violent kicks rattle the small army plane flying over Siberia as it transports the four rare horses from Prague to the vast Mongolian steppe where the once near-extinct species is slowly recovering.

There's a load of bling buried in the Earth.

Dozens of forest wildfires raged across Sweden Wednesday, prompting Stockholm to ask for emergency EU help to fight the blazes, which broke out during an extreme heatwave in the Nordic region.

Along a quiet residential street on the outer edges of Beijing, a yellow and black cube about the size of a small washing machine trundles leisurely to its destination.

Eyes popping in astonishment, his mouth hanging mutely open, seven-year-old Joel approaches the four-metre-high monster and stands nose-to-nose with one of the deadliest killing machines the world has ever known.

A dozen new moons have been discovered around Jupiter, bringing its total number of known moons to 79, the most of any planet in our solar system, astronomers announced Tuesday.

A ninth critically endangered black rhino has been reported dead after a botched operation to move the animals to a new reserve in southern Kenya, the country's tourism minister said on Tuesday.

Japan has amassed enough plutonium to make 6,000 atomic bombs as part of a programme to fuel its nuclear plants, but concern is growing that the stockpile is vulnerable to terrorists and natural disasters.

British engine maker Rolls-Royce revealed plans this week to develop a hybrid electric vehicle, dubbed the "flying taxi", which takes off and lands vertically and could be airborne within five years.

A revolutionary gene editing technique hailed as the future of disease eradication and mooted for a Nobel prize may be less precise and cause more cell damage than previously thought, researchers said Monday.

Fresh genetic tests on bones of Russia's last tsar and his family murdered a century ago have confirmed their authenticity, investigators said Monday.

A club-and-machete wielding mob in Indonesia butchered nearly 300 crocodiles in an act of revenge after a local man was killed by one of the reptiles, authorities said Monday.

A blistering heatwave smothered swathes of flood-hit western Japan Monday, hampering clean-up efforts as survivors and relief workers toil in stifling temperatures a week after devastating inundations that killed more than 200 people.

Women sharpen their knives before setting about stinking piles of fish skins, flesh and bones that cover the floor at an unusual artisanal tannery in western Kenya.

Is it a blue whale or not? The slaughter in Iceland of what is claimed was a member of the endangered species has triggered outrage and left experts puzzled about its true identity.