Filmmaker Cary Joji Fukunaga will become the first American to direct a James Bond movie, its producers announced Thursday, replacing British director Danny Boyle for the storied spy franchise's 25th instalment.

Malta's prime minister on Thursday signalled unexpected support from EU leaders for a second referendum on Brexit in Britain, boosting a growing campaign for a new poll despite the British government's trenchant opposition.

Malaysia's ex-leader Najib Razak was hit with 25 new charges of money laundering and abuse of power linked to the 1MDB mega-scandal Thursday, including allegations hundreds of millions of dollars were transferred to his personal bank account.

Turkey, which was last month buffeted by its worst currency crisis in recent years, on Thursday forecast sharply lower growth coupled with persistently high inflation in its new medium-term economic programme.

Kim Jong Un and Moon Jae-in visited the spiritual birthplace of the Korean nation Thursday for a show of unity after their North-South summit gave new momentum to Pyongyang's negotiations with Washington.

Twelve people were killed and dozens missing after a landslide unleashed by monsoon rains struck in the central Philippines Thursday, inflicting more misery on the already storm-battered nation.

A cockpit mix-up left more than 30 passengers on an Indian plane bleeding from their ears and noses Thursday after the crew reportedly forgot to flick a switch regulating cabin air pressure.

Sewing needles were taken off the shelves at a major Australian supermarket chain Thursday amid a national panic over sharp objects being found inside strawberries and other fruit.

The EU warned social network Facebook on Thursday to bring its allegedly "misleading" consumer terms of service in line with the bloc's rules by the end of the year or to risk financial penalties.

EU leaders met Thursday to prepare for the final stretch of Brexit negotiations, after public clashes with Britain over who should give ground but signs of a shift on both sides over the key issue of Ireland.

Bitcoin and other digital currency worth around 6.7 billion yen ($60 million) has been stolen in Japan following a hacking attack, a virtual exchange operator said on Thursday.

The jacket worn by loveable Star Wars scoundrel Han Solo in "The Empire Strikes Back" as well as Indiana Jones's signature fedora are among rare movie memorabilia going under the hammer in London on Thursday.

A Texas man who has played a central role in the US debate over 3D-printed weapons and caused panic by publishing firearm blueprints online is wanted for having sex with a 16-year-old, police said Wednesday.

High-profile stars such as Paula Radcliffe and Valerie Adams led athletes' demands on Wednesday for WADA to rethink plans to lift its suspension of Russia, claiming the anti-doping body "owe it to all clean athletes to be the guardians of clean sport".

Alibaba founder Jack Ma said his ambitious pledge to create one million jobs in the US had been scuppered by the trade row between Beijing and Washington, Chinese state news reported Thursday.

Israel's air force commander was set to lead a delegation to Moscow on Thursday to share the military's findings on the Syrian downing of a Russian warplane following Israeli air strikes.

US environmental regulators are under increasing pressure over a controversial pesticide known for laying waste to nearby crops as well as the harmful weeds it is meant to control.

Mark Cuban will pay $10 million to organizations supporting women's causes after the NBA said he did not pay enough attention to the toxic workplace culture for women in the Dallas Mavericks' organization.

Scientists have created a self-flying glider that uses machine learning to navigate rising air currents, in an experiment that could help our understanding of how birds migrate.

President Bashar al-Assad on Wednesday blamed Israel for the downing of a Russian plane, which was accidentally hit by Syrian anti-aircraft fire during an Israeli missile strike.

Juventus believe they can win the Champions League with Cristiano Ronaldo, but they had to start by beating Valencia without him after he was controversially sent off on his debut in the competition for the Italian champions on Wednesday.

President Donald Trump piled pressure Wednesday on the woman accusing his Supreme Court pick of sexual assault by insisting that she testify next week if she wants to be heard.

Manchester City assistant manager Mikel Arteta admitted the English champions were handed a wake-up call in a shock 2-1 home defeat by Lyon to start their Champions League campaign on Wednesday.

British Prime Minister Theresa May clashed with EU leaders on Wednesday over who should make the next move to break the Brexit logjam, as time runs out to get a deal.

Mexico held memorials and protests Wednesday in memory of the two earthquakes that devastated the country on September 19 -- one that killed 369 people last year, and another in 1985 that killed more than 10,000.

North Korea's Kim Jong Un agreed Wednesday to shutter a missile-testing site and visit Seoul, a historic move the US welcomed by saying it was ready for immediate talks aimed at denuclearising North Korea by January 2021.

Illegal coca plantations in Colombia reached record levels last year following a 17 percent increase from 2016 to around 423,000 acres (171,000 hectares), the United Nations said on Wednesday.

It's a devastating disease driving a dementia epidemic ruining tens of millions of lives, but with no new medical treatment since the turn of the century the fight against Alzheimer's is foundering.

Eliminating dead-but-toxic cells occurring naturally in the brains of mice designed to mimic Alzheimer's slowed neuron damage and memory loss associated with the disease, according to a study published Wednesday that could open a new front in the fight against dementia.

The mother was admitted at 9:30 am, the birth recorded at 9:35. Women often arrive in extremis at the Doctors Without Borders maternity hospital in southeastern Afghanistan, one of the most active in the world, with more than 60 babies born daily.

A cockpit mix-up left more than 30 passengers on an Indian plane bleeding from their ears and noses Thursday after the crew reportedly forgot to flick a switch regulating cabin air pressure.

Sewing needles were taken off the shelves at a major Australian supermarket chain Thursday amid a national panic over sharp objects being found inside strawberries and other fruit.

Qu Jianguo, 64, had a futuristic medical visit in Shanghai as he put his wrist through an automated pulse-taking machine and received the result within two minutes on a mobile phone -- without a doctor present.

The jacket worn by loveable Star Wars scoundrel Han Solo in "The Empire Strikes Back" as well as Indiana Jones's signature fedora are among rare movie memorabilia going under the hammer in London on Thursday.

Three years ago, asphyxiated by Venezuela's economic meltdown, Francisco Rojas and his wife Elena packed up four suitcases with the barest of essentials and walked out of their Caracas apartment.

US environmental regulators are under increasing pressure over a controversial pesticide known for laying waste to nearby crops as well as the harmful weeds it is meant to control.

Arthur Mitchell, a pioneering black American ballet dancer, died Wednesday at the age of 84, the Dance Theatre of Harlem troupe which he co-founded announced.

Eliminating dead-but-toxic cells occurring naturally in the brains of mice designed to mimic Alzheimer's slowed neuron damage and memory loss associated with the disease, according to a study published Wednesday that could open a new front in the fight against dementia.

Illegal coca plantations in Colombia reached record levels last year following a 17 percent increase from 2016 to around 423,000 acres (171,000 hectares), the United Nations said on Wednesday.

Sony announced Wednesday it plans to launch a miniature games console designed like the original PlayStation pre-loaded with 20 vintage games as it joins the retro gaming craze just in time for Christmas.

The piercing of supermarket strawberries with sewing needles is comparable to terrorism, Australia's prime minister said Wednesday, as he demanded sentences of up to 15 years in response to a nationwide scare.

Friends call him "Maradona" and Chinese media have dubbed him "Soccer Nut" -- Zhao Chongshan is 63 but he still plays football three times a week and has no plan to hang up his boots.

On a Saturday morning in September in the Normandy countryside a group of men and women gather for an ancient French initiation ceremony.

Milan Fashion Week kicks off on Wednesday with cutting-edge couturiers taking over the city to present their women's ready-to-wear Spring/Summer 2019 collections, while doffing a collective cap to the environment.

The Kennedy assassination, Watergate, 911 and the war in Iraq: all these landmark events in US history fueled public suspicions about the elites and fostered conspiracy theories that inspired artists, and are the focus of a new exhibition at New York's Met Breuer museum.

A barge built secretly for Napoleon Bonaparte in 1810 to inspect his imperial fleet had its crown removed in a delicate museum operation Tuesday ahead of the vessel's move to a new home on the coast of Brittany.

A French court is set to rule Wednesday on an appeal by two senior editors of celebrity magazine Closer against hefty fines imposed over their 2012 decision to publish pictures of the Duchess of Cambridge sunbathing topless.

Urban air pollution, mostly from vehicles, is associated with an increased risk of dementia, according to research published Wednesday.

Mosquito larvae have been observed ingesting microplastics that can be passed up the food chain, researchers said Wednesday, potentially uncovering a new way that the polluting particles could damage the environment.

Whistleblower Grigory Rodchenkov said Tuesday the World Anti-Doping Agency (WADA) risked a "catastrophe for clean sport" if it lifts a suspension against the Russian Anti-Doping Agency later this week.

Ireland's president on Tuesday signed a constitutional amendment repealing strict abortion laws in the staunchly Catholic country.

More than 1,000 Canadians died of an apparent opioid overdose in the first three months of this year, bringing the toll since the public health crisis erupted in 2016 to 8,000, the public health agency said Tuesday.

Long-awaited debuts, sushi-themed hats and mums as models were the standout themes of London Fashion Week, which ended on Tuesday.

A Chinese film star got her hands dirty Tuesday to kick off the harvest at her Bordeaux vineyard, which she aims to propel into the ranks of top estates as demand for French wines grows back home.

Italian Camila Giorgi dashed Caroline Wozniacki's hopes of a winning a third consecutive Pan Pacific Open title with a stunning ambush of the top seed on Thursday.

World heavyweight champion Manuel Charr has had to call off next week's title defence, and is set to be stripped of his WBA belt, after testing positive for steroids.

Eddie Jones says his decision to axe Danny Cipriani from England's training squad wasn't influenced by the fly-half's off-field problems.

Cristiano Ronaldo should escape an increase on his one-match ban in the Champions League but Juventus' star summer signing might not get off so easily in the race for the Ballon d'Or.

Manchester City's fourth consecutive Champions League defeat is a stark reminder of the size of the challenge facing the Premier League champions as they seek to replicate their domestic dominance on the European stage.

Bayern Munich coach Niko Kovac believes the German champions have unearthed the next Lothar Matthaeus as Renato Sanches continues to resurrect his career with a stunning display at Benfica.

Belgium have joined world champions France as joint leaders of the FIFA world rankings released Thursday, the first time in the table's 25-year history that top spot has been shared.

With Paul Pogba putting his stamp on games and Jose Mourinho in an upbeat mood, the atmosphere around Manchester United is markedly more relaxed than it was just a few weeks ago.

World Rugby chairman Bill Beaumont signalled that more "emerging" rugby nations could be set to host the World Cup as the one-year countdown began Thursday to the 2019 edition in Japan, the first outside the sport's strongholds.

Skipper Tim Paine vowed Australia will play "hard but fair" against Pakistan as they embark on their first Test tour since a ball-tampering scandal and with fresh controversy raging following allegations by England's Moeen Ali.

High-profile stars such as Paula Radcliffe and Valerie Adams led athletes' demands on Wednesday for WADA to rethink plans to lift its suspension of Russia, claiming the anti-doping body "owe it to all clean athletes to be the guardians of clean sport".

Mark Cuban will pay $10 million to organizations supporting women's causes after the NBA said he did not pay enough attention to the toxic workplace culture for women in the Dallas Mavericks' organization.

Juventus believe they can win the Champions League with Cristiano Ronaldo, but they had to start by beating Valencia without him after he was controversially sent off on his debut in the competition for the Italian champions on Wednesday.

Juventus coach Massimiliano Allegri lamented the lack of a Video Assistant Referee after Cristiano Ronaldo was sent off on his Champions League debut for the club against Valencia on Wednesday.

Paul Pogba's brilliant opening goal was the catalyst as Manchester United overcame a difficult start to beat Young Boys 3-0 in Bern in their opening Champions League game on Wednesday.

Manchester City assistant manager Mikel Arteta admitted the English champions were handed a wake-up call in a shock 2-1 home defeat by Lyon to start their Champions League campaign on Wednesday.

Juventus kicked off their Champions League campaign with a 2-0 victory at Valencia in a match overshadowed by a controversial red card for Cristiano Ronaldo, while tournament favourites Manchester City were stunned at home by Lyon on Wednesday.

Bernd Leno has been challenged to make the Arsenal goalkeeper's jersey his own after Unai Emery confirmed the German will make his debut against Vorskla Poltava on Thursday.

Gareth Bale scored as Real Madrid moved on from the departures of Cristiano Ronaldo and Zinedine Zidane with a 3-0 win over Roma on Wednesday to confidently launch their pursuit of a fourth successive Champions League title.

Manchester City assistant coach Mikel Arteta admitted his side had only themselves to blame for their shock 2-1 defeat against Lyon on Wednesday.

Middlesbrough stepped up their impressive bid to win promotion to the Premier League with a 2-0 victory over Bolton on Wednesday.

Renato Sanches received a standing ovation from Benfica fans after he scored against his old club to inspire Bayern Munich to a 2-0 win in their opening Champions League fixture on Wednesday.

Renato Sanches received a standing ovation from Benfica fans after he scored against his old club to inspire Bayern Munich to a 2-0 win in their opening Champions League fixture on Wednesday.

Lyon stunned Manchester City with a shock 2-1 win in their Champions League group-stage opener on Wednesday. Here are three things we learned from the Etihad Stadium clash:

Anthony Joshua admits he will have to subdue the power of Alexander Povetkin as the world heavyweight champion prepares for a tough test against the Russian this weekend.

India crushed Pakistan by eight wickets in their long-awaited Asia Cup match which failed to live up to its hype in Dubai on Wednesday.

Cristiano Ronaldo was sent off for the 11th time on Wednesday on his Champions League debut with Juventus at Valencia.

France is to give a major cash bonus to movies made by women in a bid to try and bring gender parity to the film industry, its culture minister said Wednesday.

Filmmaker Cary Joji Fukunaga will become the first American to direct a James Bond movie, its producers announced Thursday, replacing British director Danny Boyle for the storied spy franchise's 25th instalment.

Arctic Monkeys, Noel Gallagher and Lily Allen are among the heavyweight contenders for Britain's prestigious Mercury award on Thursday, but newcomer Nadine Shah's pro-immigration album "Holiday Destination" is favourite to win.

US filmmaker Cary Joji Fukunaga will direct the next James Bond movie, set for worldwide release on February 14, 2020, the franchise's producers said Thursday after British director Danny Boyle quit the project last month.

The jacket worn by loveable Star Wars scoundrel Han Solo in "The Empire Strikes Back" as well as Indiana Jones's signature fedora are among rare movie memorabilia going under the hammer in London on Thursday.

Two months ago, basketball superstar LeBron James joined the Los Angeles Lakers. Now, he's taking on Hollywood in a big way.

Explicitly erotic sculptures inspired by ancient Greek ceramic art are making waves at a marina in the Spanish city of Valencia.

Ian Buruma, the editor of the prestigious New York Review of Books, has left his position after being roundly criticized for publishing an essay condemned as insulting toward the #MeToo movement and victims of sexual abuse.

U2 frontman Bono said he could see the pain on Pope Francis's face on Wednesday when he told him "it looks to some people that the abusers are being more protected than the victims".

The man at the centre of a sexual assault scandal that prompted the Swedish Academy to postpone this year's Nobel Literature Prize denied two counts of rape as his first hearing ended on Wednesday.

A social media campaign has been launched to ban the songs of Moroccan pop star Saad Lamjarred on the country's radio stations after he was charged in France in a third case involving rape charges.

A French court Wednesday dismissed an appeal by the editors of gossip magazine Closer, who were fined 45,000 euros ($53,000) for publishing pictures of the Duchess of Cambridge sunbathing topless in 2012.

A new book and documentary have revealed the lengths to which the French wartime Vichy regime went to please the Nazis.

Canada's Foreign Minister Chrystia Freeland, showing off her waggish side, wore a t-shirt with the words "Keep calm and negotiate NAFTA" on it to Washington for high level continental trade talks Wednesday.

Two Thai fans were charged with trespassing Wednesday after sneaking into Bangkok's main airport by impersonating customs officials to meet South Korean movie star Lee Jong-Suk, police said.

He's the Nigerian star of Afropop, feted across Africa and the globe as a multi-millionaire singer-songwriter and record producer.

Bert and Ernie of "Sesame Street" may only be puppets, but that hasn't stopped audiences from speculating over the years that the two roommates might be more than just best friends.

Thousands of Italians are flocking to illegal free public screenings of a new film about a young man's 2009 death in custody, a potent symbol of police violence and a merciless penal system.

Belgian musician Tristan Driessens found his inspiration and his calling east of the Bosphorus, becoming one of the West's few masters of the oud and of Ottoman classical music.

Heloise Letissier, the million-selling French pop singer who became a global star as Christine and the Queens, cannot stop shape-shifting.

Milan Fashion Week kicks off on Wednesday with cutting-edge couturiers taking over the city to present their women's ready-to-wear Spring/Summer 2019 collections, while doffing a collective cap to the environment.

The Iranian film for next year's Oscars has stirred controversy at home both over the choice of a downbeat movie and for taking part in the Hollywood spectacle at a time of tense Tehran-Washington ties.

The Kennedy assassination, Watergate, 911 and the war in Iraq: all these landmark events in US history fueled public suspicions about the elites and fostered conspiracy theories that inspired artists, and are the focus of a new exhibition at New York's Met Breuer museum.

A barge built secretly for Napoleon Bonaparte in 1810 to inspect his imperial fleet had its crown removed in a delicate museum operation Tuesday ahead of the vessel's move to a new home on the coast of Brittany.

A French court is set to rule Wednesday on an appeal by two senior editors of celebrity magazine Closer against hefty fines imposed over their 2012 decision to publish pictures of the Duchess of Cambridge sunbathing topless.

The US Senate voted Tuesday to guarantee royalties for digital broadcast of songs from before 1972, in a rare bipartisan effort seen as one of the biggest shakeups ever of how musicians are compensated.

French writer and filmmaker Marceline Loridan-Ivens, a lifelong friend of Simone Veil after the pair met in the Auschwitz-Birkenau Nazi death camp, died Tuesday aged 90, the late French minister's son Jean Veil told AFP.

It's a devastating disease driving a dementia epidemic ruining tens of millions of lives, but with no new medical treatment since the turn of the century the fight against Alzheimer's is foundering.

Eliminating dead-but-toxic cells occurring naturally in the brains of mice designed to mimic Alzheimer's slowed neuron damage and memory loss associated with the disease, according to a study published Wednesday that could open a new front in the fight against dementia.

Qu Jianguo, 64, had a futuristic medical visit in Shanghai as he put his wrist through an automated pulse-taking machine and received the result within two minutes on a mobile phone -- without a doctor present.

US environmental regulators are under increasing pressure over a controversial pesticide known for laying waste to nearby crops as well as the harmful weeds it is meant to control.

Scientists have created a self-flying glider that uses machine learning to navigate rising air currents, in an experiment that could help our understanding of how birds migrate.

The German authorities on Wednesday suspended an operation to evict protesters, holed up in forest treehouses to block the expansion of an open-pit coal mine, after the death of a journalist.

Firefighters trying to put out a record number of wildfires in westernmost Canada recently found themselves in an unexpected tug-o-war with a fire devil for control of their hose.

Eliminating dead-but-toxic cells occurring naturally in the brains of mice designed to mimic Alzheimer's slowed neuron damage and memory loss associated with the disease, according to a study published Wednesday that could open a new front in the fight against dementia.

Fighting global warming will necessarily require taxing carbon emissions, or setting a price on carbon pollution, the World Bank's chief executive said Wednesday at a G7 environment meeting in Canada.

Desperate and alone -- and with the US government nowhere to be seen -- many Puerto Ricans turned to each other for salvation as they faced the furies of Hurricane Maria one year ago.

DNA tests on smuggled elephant tusks have identified three major ivory cartels in Africa and are helping investigators bolster the criminal cases against some of the most dangerous traffickers, researchers said Wednesday.

Hundreds of years ago, the American bison roamed freely across the widest natural range of any herbivore on the continent -- a vast habitat extending from northern Mexico across the United States to Alaska, and Canada.

Moderate global temperature rises of just two degrees Celsius could still be enough to melt parts of the largest ice sheet on Earth and raise sea levels by several metres, experts warned on Wednesday.

They arrived in New York from Puerto Rico after Hurricane Maria ravaged the island in September 2017, leaving widespread devastation in its wake and a death toll that would spiral to almost 3,000.

Urban air pollution, mostly from vehicles, is associated with an increased risk of dementia, according to research published Wednesday.

Mosquito larvae have been observed ingesting microplastics that can be passed up the food chain, researchers said Wednesday, potentially uncovering a new way that the polluting particles could damage the environment.

US President Donald Trump unveiled a new strategy Tuesday aimed at reducing the risks of man-made and naturally occurring biological threats.

The Swiss NGO Public Eye called Tuesday for an export ban on the pesticide Polo, produced by agriculture giant Syngenta, implicating it in the death of 20 Indian farmers last year.

Fed-up with a growing mountain of stinking disposable nappies, a Dutch firm Tuesday started building the country's first recycling plant to turn poo into profit.

German business software giant SAP published Tuesday an ethics code to govern its research into artificial intelligence (AI), aiming to prevent the technology infringing on people's rights, displacing workers or inheriting biases from its human designers.

The EU opened an in-depth probe into alleged collusion by major German carmakers over anti-pollution technology Tuesday, a fresh blow to the scandal-hit industry three years after the notorious "dieselgate."

Most of the cars made by Ferrari will be hybrid petrol-electric by 2022, the Italian sports car manufacturer said on Tuesday, including its first SUV.

The EU opened an in-depth probe into alleged collusion by major German carmakers over anti-pollution technology Tuesday, a fresh blow to the scandal-hit industry three years after the notorious "dieselgate."

Renault's alliance with Nissan and Mitsubishi said Tuesday it would start equipping its cars with the Android operating system to make dashboards smart.

A train transporting oil in eastern Sri Lanka hit and killed two baby elephants and their pregnant mother on Tuesday, police said, the second jumbo tragedy in a month.

A Japanese billionaire and online fashion tycoon, Yusaku Maezawa, will be the first man to fly on a monster SpaceX rocket around the Moon as early as 2023, and he plans to bring six to eight artists along.

Rain-gorged rivers threatened further flooding on the storm-battered US East Coast Monday as the death toll from Hurricane Florence, now a tropical depression, jumped to 31.