Google celebrated its 20th birthday Monday, marking two decades in which it has grown from simply a better way to explore the internet to a search engine so woven into daily life its name has become a verb.

China must come clean about the fate of an estimated one million minority Muslims swept up in a "massive crackdown" in far western region of Xinjiang, Amnesty International said in a new report Monday.

Donald Trump's embattled Supreme Court nominee Brett Kavanaugh was hit by a second accusation of sexual misconduct Sunday, leaving Republicans scrambling to save a confirmation that until recently had seemed all but certain.

While the US takes aim at China, Canada and Mexico over perceived trade imbalances, Japan has kept a low profile, hoping Prime Minister Shinzo Abe's friendship with golf buddy Donald Trump will keep Tokyo out of the firing line.

Donald Trump's threatened tariffs on another $200 billion of Chinese imports took effect on Monday, escalating a trade war between the world's top two economies that is clouding the global outlook.

Voters in the Maldives were watching nervously for President Abdulla Yameen's next move on Monday after the China-friendly strongman suffered a surprise election defeat, prompting celebrations but also concern in the Indian Ocean honeymoon islands.

Hong Kong banned a political party which promotes independence on Monday, saying it was a threat to national security as Beijing ups pressure on any challenges to its sovereignty.

Justin Rose may have scooped the FedEx Cup trophy with a fourth place finish at the Tour Championship on Sunday but it was not enough to prevent him from surrendering the coveted top spot in the world rankings.

Sydney-bound holidaymakers will soon have more options to reach Australia's largest city, which on Monday broke ground on a new US$3.6 billion airport.

About 130 world leaders are gathering at the United Nations this week for the annual high-level debate to address pressing global issues, from scrapping North Korea's nuclear weapons to financing development.

Europe retained their Laver Cup tennis crown Sunday as Alexander Zverev defeated Kevin Anderson to complete a 13-8 win over the World team.

Twelve months on from his explosive debut on the world's biggest diplomatic stage, Donald Trump returns to the UN General Assembly on Monday to trumpet a turnaround in ties with last year's number one enemy, North Korea's Kim Jong Un.

A second woman has come forward with allegations of sexual misconduct against Brett Kavanaugh, President Donald Trump's embattled nominee for the Supreme Court, The New Yorker said Sunday.

Girls are the primary victims of humanitarian crises, suffering abuse from forced marriage to denial of schooling and are "14 times more likely to die than boys in a conflict," the Plan International NGO said Sunday.

Cristiano Ronaldo and Lionel Messi's decade-long domination of football's individual awards is under threat from Real Madrid and Croatia midfielder Luka Modric and Liverpool's Egyptian forward Mohamed Salah when FIFA's player of the year is announced on Monday.

Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau said Sunday it was "very likely" that informal talks aimed at renewing the North American Free Trade Agreement would continue on the sidelines of the United Nations General Assembly in New York over the next several days.

Canada-based Cirque du Soleil staged their first show in Saudi Arabia on Sunday with a dazzling display of high-wire thrills, despite a diplomatic spat between Ottawa and Riyadh.

Tiger Woods scored his first victory in more than five years on Sunday, completing a two-shot win at the Tour Championship to crown a fairy tale comeback after a near two-year absence.

Tanzania declared the whole nation was in mourning Sunday as the first dozen bodies were buried from a devastating ferry capsize on Lake Victoria that left people 224 dead.

Tech giants Microsoft, Amazon and Google are joining forces with international organizations to help identify and head off famines in developing nations using data analysis and artificial intelligence, a new initiative unveiled Sunday.

The Bank of International Settlements said Sunday the global economy risked a "relapse" of the crisis that rocked it a decade ago, warning there was little "medicine" left to treat the patient a second time.

Iranian President Hassan Rouhani on Sunday pointed blame at Arab separatists for a deadly attack on a military parade and accused an unnamed US-backed Gulf state of supporting them.

A second Swiss canton will introduce a regional "burqa ban", after voters in St. Gallen on Sunday emphatically backed prohibiting all face-covering garments in public spaces.

A second Swiss canton will introduce a regional "burqa ban", after voters in St. Gallen emphatically voted Sunday to prohibit all face-covering garments in public spaces.

A second Swiss canton will introduce a regional "burqa ban", after voters in St. Gallen overwhelmingly voted Sunday to prohibit all face-covering garments in public spaces.

Iranian President Hassan Rouhani on Sunday appeared to blame Arab separatists for an attack on a military parade the previous day that left 29 people dead.

Former world number one Karolina Pliskova stunned Japanese tennis sensation Naomi Osaka in straights sets to capture the Pan Pacific Open on Sunday.

Google celebrated its 20th birthday Monday, marking two decades in which it has grown from simply a better way to explore the internet to a search engine so woven into daily life its name has become a verb.

Singapore on Monday fined ride-hailing firms Grab and Uber $9.5 million for breaking competition rules when they merged, saying the deal had increased fares and thrown up roadblocks for competitors.

In 2014, the Kuwaiti press hailed Gabriel Garcia Marquez as a literary "giant". But since his death, the Colombian writer and a slew of others have been banned as censorship takes root in the Gulf state.

From before dawn, 54-year-old grandmother Annah Muvhali weaves between baobab trees that loom over her rural South African home, collecting fruit that enthusiasts worldwide hail as a "superfood".

Determined to go green, Oslo is slowly but surely ridding its city centre of motorists, angering some who say the "war on cars" is putting the brakes on individual freedoms.

The sandy cove along California's picturesque coast beckons visitors to what is supposed to be a public beach. But the imposing gate, the security guard and the annual $100 access fee tell a different story.

Thailand's junta chief caricatured as a "lucky cat" with a paw raised to rake in money, or his face crossed out by a thick, red line -- daring graffiti is cropping up across Bangkok as the city's walls become a canvas for rare political scorn.

Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Sunday launched the world's biggest health insurance scheme, promising free coverage for half a billion of India's poorest citizens ahead of national elections next year.

From the front lines of war to a staple of institutional catering, Spam is rarely seen as a gourmet ingredient -- but the canned pink meat holds a unique position in South Korea as a top-selling holiday gift.

The landmark deal between China and the Vatican is a win for Beijing, giving official recognition to bishops appointed by the government despite a crackdown on religion, and potentially softening the ground for full diplomatic relations after 67 years of estrangement, analysts said.

Artists melted a ton of ice spelling out the word "truth" in the shadow of the US Capitol on Saturday, in a poetic protest at the caustic state of politics in the era of "fake news" under President Donald Trump.

When US President Donald Trump demanded to know why his Supreme Court nominee's sexual assault accuser did not come forward sooner, he sought to cast doubt over her claims.

Some 20,000 people marched in Bern Saturday demanding wage equality between the genders, organisers said, warning that women are prepared to go on strike if Swiss parliamentarians do not fix the pay gap.

Facebook said Friday a dating service it teased early this year is being rolled out in Colombia.

New York's Metropolitan Museum of Art made a surprise announcement Friday it would reboot stalled renovations of its modern and contemporary wing, and temporarily turn over the building housing the works to the nearby Frick Collection.

Italian designer Antonio Marras unleashed a procession of fauvist travellers on the catwalk Friday in a collection dedicated to "those who have still not left and those who are forced to leave".

President Donald Trump's outburst demanding to know why a university academic accusing his Supreme Court nominee of sexual assault in the 1980s failed to come forward sooner, saw a new #MeToo era hashtag storm the internet Friday.

Alcohol kills three million people worldwide each year -- more than AIDS, violence and road accidents combined, the World Health Organization said Friday, adding that men are particularly at risk.

Italy's fashion industry responded Friday to accusations of widespread underpaid and undeclared subcontracted work in a New York Times article, saying that the problem is limited and already being dealt with.

Ireland will hold a referendum on October 26 to repeal its constitutional law forbidding blasphemy, Dublin announced on Friday.

German authorities said Friday they were blocking a plan to rebuild part of the Berlin Wall for a massive film-art project in the German capital.

Few places are more peaceful than the gentle slopes of France's Alsace wine region -- but should any heinous crimes like grape theft occur, Jason the horse is on hand to catch the perpetrators.

The mighty Heera marched through a crowded slum chewing bamboo, oblivious that freedom from life as one of Delhi's last six elephants at work in the polluted city could be just around the corner.

Jose Augustin Hernandez is a 53-year-old local government official in Cuba -- who is transgender, sports a flamboyant pink wig and goes by the name Adela.

More than half of all countries will likely fail to hit the UN target of reducing premature deaths from a quartet of chronic diseases by a third before 2030, researchers said Friday.

Financial giant John Hancock is converting all its life insurance policies to an incentive-based system using activity tracking, a move aimed at promoting healthier lifestyles but which also raises privacy questions.

One of the largest swinging bells in the world, weighing 55 tons (7,850 stone), was unveiled in the Polish city of Krakow on Thursday ahead of being installed at a major pilgrimage site in Brazil.

Justin Rose may have scooped the FedEx Cup trophy with a fourth place finish at the Tour Championship on Sunday but it was not enough to prevent him from surrendering the coveted top spot in the world rankings.

Serena Williams says she is trying to "move on" from the meltdown that overshadowed her US Open final loss but remains perplexed at her coach's admission he illegally signalled to her.

Japanese tennis sensation Naomi Osaka not only hit the cash jackpot with her historic US Open victory -- she struck a blow for racial equality, according to a former Miss Japan.

Europe retained their Laver Cup tennis crown Sunday as Alexander Zverev defeated Kevin Anderson to complete a 13-8 win over the World team.

Cristiano Ronaldo and Lionel Messi's decade-long domination of football's individual awards is under threat from Real Madrid and Croatia midfielder Luka Modric and Liverpool's Egyptian forward Mohamed Salah when FIFA's player of the year is announced on Monday.

Tiger Woods scored his first victory in more than five years on Sunday, completing a two-shot win at the Tour Championship to crown a fairy tale comeback after a near two-year absence.

Roma's American owner James Pallotta said he was "disgusted" after the Serie A giants plunged further into crisis with a 2-0 defeat in Bologna on Sunday, piling the pressure on under-fire coach Eusebio Di Francesco.

From a deeper than usual playmaker role Brazil's Neymar pulled the strings as Paris Saint-Germain came from behind to beat Rennes 3-1 in Ligue 1 on Sunday, helping to dispel midweek memories of a European flop at Liverpool.

American fans will be licking their lips if this is what awaits Miami's Hard Rock Stadium in January after Barcelona and Girona played out an enthralling 2-2 draw at the Camp Nou on Sunday.

Cristiano Ronaldo erased the frustration of his Champions League red card by scoring the opener and setting up Federico Bernardeschi for a second as Juventus maintained their perfect record in Serie A after five games with a 2-0 win at promoted Frosinone on Sunday.

Rising quarterback star Patrick Mahomes extended his phenomenal start to the season as the Kansas City Chiefs maintained their perfect record with a 38-27 victory over the San Francisco 49ers on Sunday.

France international centre Gael Fickou continued his blistering new life with Stade Francais by scoring two more tries in a 25-13 away win over Pau in the Top 14 on Sunday.

Liverpool secured a sixth straight win at the opening of a league season for the first time in 28 years to pull clear in the Premier League title race as Chelsea stumbled for the first time this season at West Ham on Sunday.

From a deeper than usual playmaker role Brazil's Neymar pulled the strings as Paris Saint-Germain came from behind to beat Rennes 3-1 in Ligue 1 on Sunday, helping to dispel midweek memories of a European flop at Liverpool.

French veteran Gilles Simon overcame a shaky opening set on his way to winning a 14th career singles title with a 7-6 (7/2), 6-1 win over German qualifier Matthias Bachinger in Metz.

Alexandre Lacazette fired Arsenal to a fourth successive Premier League win as the French forward's superb strike inspired a hard-fought 2-0 success against Everton on Sunday.

Maurizio Sarri laughed off suggestions that next week's summit meeting with Liverpool is a "must-win" game after seeing Chelsea's 100 percent Premier League record ended by stubborn West Ham in a 0-0 draw on Sunday.

Struggling Schalke 04 were boosted on Sunday by news their US midfielder Weston McKennie escaped serious injury in their Bundesliga defeat to Bayern Munich.

Spain's Marc Marquez, riding a Honda, won Sunday's Aragon MotoGP to extend his lead atop the championship standings but it was a miserable day on the track for Jorge Lorenzo.

Top seed Dominic Thiem of Austria beat Slovakia's Martin Klizan in straight sets to secure his third ATP title of the season in the Saint Petersburg Open on Sunday.

Belgian cycling outfit Quick Step capped a fabulous season by racing to gold in the world championships team time-trial on Sunday, fending off defending champions Sunweb by 18 seconds.

Rangers' rise under Steven Gerrard continued with a 5-1 thrashing of St Johnstone to move into second in the Scottish Premiership, while Celtic slipped to sixth after a 2-1 defeat at Kilmarnock on Sunday.

World heavyweight champion Anthony Joshua is unbeaten in 22 professional fights and on Saturday he stopped a man who had never been stopped before.

Mick Schumacher, the teenage son of Formula One legend Michael Schumacher, is living up to the famous family name in Formula Three by dominating the drivers' championship after picking up his fifth straight win on Sunday.

Lorenzo Insigne bagged a brace to inspire Napoli to a 3-1 win over Torino and join Juventus at the top of Serie A on Sunday, as Roma plunged further into crisis with a 2-0 loss at Bologna.

Rising Germany star Kai Havertz ended Bayer Leverkusen's miserable losing start to the season with a second-half winner to seal a 1-0 victory over Mainz and escape the Bundesliga's bottom three.

France manager Didier Deschamps believes the outside world has the wrong image of Paul Pogba, who played a key role in leading Les Bleus to winning the World Cup.

Disgraced US television icon Bill Cosby will return to a Pennsylvania court on Monday to face sentencing for sexual assault, five months after his conviction at the first celebrity trial of the #MeToo era.

Canada-based Cirque du Soleil staged their first show in Saudi Arabia on Sunday with a dazzling display of high-wire thrills, despite a diplomatic spat between Ottawa and Riyadh.

A horror comedy about a clock counting down to doomsday chimed in at the top of the North American box office this weekend, industry estimates showed on Sunday.

The lights dim in the packed cinema as the holding music fades. The film title "Rafiki" flashes up on the screen, and some 230 hushed spectators burst out in euphoric applause.

Michel Houellebecq, the enfant terrible of French literature whose descriptions of swingers' clubs, anonymous sex and misogynistic men have made him a global star, has married for the third time in secret, a friend revealed on Sunday.

US cable giant Comcast outbid Rupert Murdoch's 21st Century Fox in a blind auction for the European TV operator Sky on Saturday that all but settled a titanic battle between the two media empires.

Still adored at home despite three separate rape charges in France, Moroccan pop star Saad Lamjarred's latest arrest has reignited a debate on violence against women in the North African kingdom.

Malaysian badminton star Lee Chong Wei has early-stage nose cancer and is being treated in Taiwan, sports officials said Saturday, after weeks of speculation about his health.

New York's Metropolitan Museum of Art made a surprise announcement Friday it would reboot stalled renovations of its modern and contemporary wing, and temporarily turn over the building housing the works to the nearby Frick Collection.

Rihanna is now Ambassador Rihanna, after her home country tasked her with promoting investment and tourism.

Italian designer Antonio Marras unleashed a procession of fauvist travellers on the catwalk Friday in a collection dedicated to "those who have still not left and those who are forced to leave".

Bianca Jagger once defended the Sandinista revolution of Daniel Ortega. But today, the Nicaraguan rights campaigner wants to see the controversial leader leave office in her homeland.

A museum dedicated to late and notorious Colombian drug baron Pablo Escobar has been shut down in Medellin, according to local authorities.

The Sundance Kid may have a few acting adventures left in him.

Italy's fashion industry responded Friday to accusations of widespread underpaid and undeclared subcontracted work in a New York Times article, saying that the problem is limited and already being dealt with.

Opening his era in charge of the New York Philharmonic, Jaap van Zweden could not have been clearer that he welcomes fresh ideas.

Kenya on Friday overturned a ban on Rafiki, a film about a lesbian love affair and the first ever movie from the country to be shown at the Cannes film festival.

Olympic legend Michael Phelps called for new leadership in the fight against drugs in sport on Friday after the World Anti-Doping Agency controversially reinstated Russia's tainted anti-drugs body.

A 19-year-old singer in Kyrgyzstan has filed a complaint with police after receiving death threats over a music video she released targeting gender discrimination in the ex-Soviet republic.

There is a disturbance in the Force.

Pop-country superstar Carrie Underwood on Thursday got a star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame -- the latest honor for the Grammy-winning onetime champion of TV reality show "American Idol."

"Serial," the hit US internet radio sensation and most downloaded podcast in history, is back for season three. This time, focused on explaining to listeners how ordinary American criminal justice functions.

More than 150 works by American artist Alexander Calder, including his famous mobiles, will go on display starting Friday at Montreal's Museum of Fine Arts, Canada's first retrospective dedicated to the influential sculptor.

Fendi presented a jungle-themed collection aimed at the inner Lara Croft, Prada shone with its own impression of strong women and Emporio Armani invaded an airport on the second day of Milan Fashion Week on Thursday.

Former rap mogul Marion "Suge" Knight pleaded no contest to voluntary manslaughter on Thursday and will serve 28 years in prison for running over and killing a man three years ago.

Rockers Wolf Alice defied the odds to win Britain's prestigious Mercury Prize on Thursday for their second album "Visions of a Life", beating off competition from heavyweights Arctic Monkeys and Noel Gallagher.

There is a disturbance in the Force.

Google celebrated its 20th birthday Monday, marking two decades in which it has grown from simply a better way to explore the internet to a search engine so woven into daily life its name has become a verb.

From before dawn, 54-year-old grandmother Annah Muvhali weaves between baobab trees that loom over her rural South African home, collecting fruit that enthusiasts worldwide hail as a "superfood".

Determined to go green, Oslo is slowly but surely ridding its city centre of motorists, angering some who say the "war on cars" is putting the brakes on individual freedoms.

The sandy cove along California's picturesque coast beckons visitors to what is supposed to be a public beach. But the imposing gate, the security guard and the annual $100 access fee tell a different story.

Indonesian palm oil farmer Kawal Surbakti says his livelihood is under attack, but the threat is not from insects or hungry orangutans eating his prized crop.

Three prominent US scientists have been pushed to resign over the past 10 days after damning revelations about their methods, a sign of greater vigilance and decreasing tolerance for misconduct within the research community.

What seemed a like a crazy idea turned out to be just that: a 1980s experiment that saw 25,000 car tyres dumped into the crystal-clear waters of the Mediterranean to create a sanctuary for sealife off the French coast is being cleaned up after it was found to be polluting.

Four large sharks have been killed in Australia after a woman and a 12-year-old girl were attacked at a popular Great Barrier Reef tourist spot.

Sports car maker Porsche said Sunday it would become the first German auto giant to abandon the diesel engine, reacting to parent company Volkswagen's emissions cheating scandal and urban driving bans.

Sports car maker Porsche said Sunday it would become the first German auto giant to abandon the diesel engine, reacting to parent company Volkswagen's emissions cheating scandal and resulting urban driving bans.

After years watching Tesla's electric cars speed ahead while they have been on the defensive over an industry-wide diesel emissions scandal, German high-end manufacturers have finally unveiled their first challengers to the Californian upstart.

A pair of robot rovers have landed on an asteroid and begun a survey, Japan's space agency said Saturday, as it conducts a mission aiming to shed light on the origins of the solar system.

Astronauts traveling through space on the long trip to Mars will not have the usual backup from mission control on Earth and will need to think of themselves as Martians to survive, Canada's most famous spaceman half-jokingly said Friday.

The Canadian government on Friday ordered a new review of the Trans Mountain pipeline to the Pacific taking into account the impact of increased tanker traffic on endangered killer whales along the coast.

It has been a question plaguing the museum dedicated to one of America's greatest presidents: Is the hat real?

The number of rhino killed for their horns by poachers in South Africa dipped by 26 percent in the first eight months of the year, officials said on Friday.

The death toll from a landslide in the central Philippines has risen to 29, police said Friday, as rescuers frantically dug for survivors of the latest tragedy in the storm-hit nation.

Indian authorities Friday ordered a probe into the deaths of a dozen endangered wild Asiatic lions, half of them cubs, over the last 10 days, officials said.

A Japanese space probe Friday released a pair of exploring rovers towards an egg-shaped asteroid to collect mineral samples that may shed light on the origin of the solar system.

The mighty Heera marched through a crowded slum chewing bamboo, oblivious that freedom from life as one of Delhi's last six elephants at work in the polluted city could be just around the corner.

Dozens of farmers and local officials stormed out of a meeting with France's new environment minister on Thursday as he confirmed two more bears would soon be released into the Pyrenees mountains.

Singapore Airlines said Friday it has stopped accepting lion bones for cargo after the carrier was singled out in a report for transporting the animal parts from South Africa.

A gadget to "translate" dog barks for humans, a "babypod" that plays music inside the mother's vagina for unborn babies and the world's first self-colonoscopy method were among the whacky inventions on show Friday at a new Tokyo exhibition.

California restaurants will soon stop providing plastic straws unless customers explicitly ask for them, under a new law signed on Thursday by the state's environment-friendly governor.

Coca-Cola, Walmart and other big multinationals pledged on Thursday to help reduce plastic pollution in the world's oceans in support of a campaign by five of the G7 industrialized nations.

At least 34 people have died in northern Ghana during flooding caused by heavy rains and waters spilling from a dam in neighbouring Burkina Faso, relief agency officials said Thursday.

A strange fossil that looks a bit like a giant leaf, or a fingerprint the size of a coffee table, has intrigued scientists for decades.