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Portuguese side Benfica signed Joao Palhinha from Bayern Munich on Wednesday for a fee which could rise to 19 million euros ($22 million).

Lower oil prices helped lift stock markets on Wednesday as investors awaited key US inflation data and a highly anticipated earnings report from chip titan Nvidia.

Barcelona coach Hansi Flick indicated Wednesday the club may end the summer transfer window without signing a new striker if they fail in their bid to lure Argentinian star Julian Alvarez from rivals Atletico Madrid.

Morocco midfielder Ayyoub Bouaddi has become the most expensive teenager in Premier League history after joining Manchester City from Lille in a five-year deal the French club said Wednesday was worth 100 million euros (£85.6 million, $117 million).

France's heatwaves have produced an unusual outcome at a wildlife park, where 10 Nile crocodiles hatched without human assistance for the first time, the director of the reserve said on Wednesday.

Hungarian author Peter Nadas, renowned for his epic surrealist meditations on the darker chapters of 20th-century European history, died on Wednesday aged 83, his publicist told AFP.

Tottenham Hotspur have agreed a season-long loan deal with Manchester City for Egypt forward Omar Marmoush, with an obligation to buy for £60 million ($82 million) next year, according to British media on Wednesday.

Manchester City have signed teenage Morocco midfielder Ayyoub Bouaddi from Lille in a five-year deal the French club said Wednesday was worth 100 million euros (£86 million, $117 million).

Scottish champions Celtic face a second successive season without Champions League football, a blow which will not only have serious financial consequences, manager Martin O'Neill admitted, but could also deter players from signing for them.

Sri Lanka staged a spirited recovery after being made to follow on in the second Test against India, reaching 199-3 at tea on day four in Colombo on Wednesday.

As extreme heat fuels wildfires worldwide this summer, Lebanese officials and residents have accused Israel's military of systematically sparking blazes that have burnt swathes of forest and farmland in the country's south.

Chanting in unison, hundreds of volunteers in northern Japan heaved on ropes on Wednesday to pull a 400-tonne castle back towards its original position.

Massive flooding killed eight people in Nepal on Wednesday as Chinese state media reported "major casualties" from a mudslide at a Tibet trade hub on China's side of the nations' shared border.

Swiss star Audrey Werro will unashamedly be the star attraction at the Zurich Diamond League meet on Thursday.

Widespread drought and record-breaking heatwaves have forced France to relax some of its famously strict rules on cheese production, with authorities announcing Wednesday special measures for abondance, beaufort and comte.

A fire erupted in a hospital maternity ward in Islamabad on Wednesday killing 14 infants, Pakistan authorities said, blaming a faulty air conditioner for the blaze.

Americans of all stripes united to grieve the death of country music legend Dolly Parton, offering a rare moment of agreement as presidents of both parties joined entertainment and business giants in paying her tribute.

A flight attendant in France has succeeded in having her breast cancer recognised as an occupational disease, a first for the country's aviation industry, her lawyer and a trade union said.

Social media giant Meta has been in discussions with multiple US states to settle a major child privacy and consumer protection case out of court, Bloomberg News reported on Tuesday.

India removed Sri Lanka's openers to raise hopes of an innings win after they made the hosts follow on during day four of the second Test in Colombo on Wednesday.

Millions of Indonesians risk health complications from exposure to thick haze covering several cities and towns, officials said Wednesday, as El Nino-fuelled wildfires wreak havoc on Borneo and Sumatra islands.

Artists Daphne Gale and W. H. Morgan are presenting LIGHTWAIT, an interdisciplinary exhibition that combines photography, installation art, and original music to explore themes of vulnerability, recovery, and human connection. The project invites visitors to slow down and engage with the space between inner and outer worlds through a curated environment designed for deep observation.

A fire erupted in a hospital's maternity ward in Islamabad on Wednesday, killing 14 infants, Pakistani authorities said, with the prime minister calling for an investigation.

Mamadou Tahirou is 18 but looks more like a 12-year-old, his frame frail from the ravages of sickle cell disease, which one Senegalese laboratory is hoping to attenuate with affordable drug production.

Icelanders are to vote Saturday on whether to resume entry talks with the European Union amid growing global insecurity, in a referendum seen as going down to the wire.

Country music legend Dolly Parton has died at the age of 80, her representatives confirmed Tuesday. Parton passed away at Vanderbilt-Ingram Cancer Center in Nashville after a brief battle with cancer, surrounded by family and friends. Her sudden death has sent shockwaves through the entertainment industry, prompting an outpouring of tributes from fans and fellow celebrities alike.

Iran and Oman are discussing a temporary transit corridor and mine-clearing for the Strait of Hormuz, but Tehran warned on Wednesday that the vital waterway will not be reopened unless the United States ends the war.

North Korea will send about 100 athletes to compete across 14 sports at the Asian Games in Japan next month, a senior official said, aiming to "bring joy to Marshal Kim Jong Un".

With Dolly Parton's "Jolene" filling the night air, fans of the late country music icon laid flowers at a Tennessee statue of the singer who changed their US state forever.

At a Washington gay bar, Cameron Austin donned a country western outfit replete with cowboy boots, as he sat in the corner sipping a drink while Dolly Parton's "When I'm Gone" blasted through the sound system.

Australian police said Wednesday they were on the hunt for thieves who made off with hundreds of thousands of oysters.

England will aim to put their latest drinking drama behind them when they face Pakistan in the second Test at Lord's starting on Thursday.