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Italy's warring parties were set Saturday to beg outgoing President Sergio Mattarella to stay for another term, fearing political chaos due to a possible failure to elect his successor.

Reigning world champion Corinne Suter boosted her morale ahead of the Olympic downhill in Beijing with victory at Garmisch-Partkenkirchen on Saturday in the weekend's final tune-up races before the Winter games, which starts next week.

Tennis great Rod Laver and pop princess Kylie Minogue led the tributes to Ashleigh Barty after she won her first Australian Open title Saturday, with Laver calling her "the complete player".

An imperious Ashleigh Barty said it was a dream come true after on Saturday becoming the first Australian to win her home Grand Slam in 44 years, but the memories made along the way were more important than the trophy.

Multi-talented Ashleigh Barty has been a professional cricketer, won a golf tournament and now taken her place among the giants of Australian tennis after winning her home Grand Slam on Saturday.

Residents in an inundated neighbourhood of Madagascar's capital Antananarivo are returning with dread to see what remains of their homes and harvests, three days after Tropical Storm Ana relented.

Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan has sacked the head of the state statistics agency, according to a decree published Saturday, after releasing data showing last year's inflation rate hit a 19-year high of 36.1 percent.

Eleven people have been arrested after a deadly clash at a nightclub in Indonesia's easternmost region, police said on Saturday.

An imperious Ashleigh Barty became the first Australian to win her home Grand Slam in 44 years Saturday, halting the charge of fearless American Danielle Collins in straight sets.

Activists handed out 1,000 "Where is Peng Shuai?" T-shirts to spectators ahead of the Australian Open women's final Saturday to highlight concern for the Chinese tennis star.

Oil washing up on a beach on Thailand's east coast could be the "nail in the coffin" for pandemic-hit hotels and restaurants, local hospitality businesses said Saturday.

An ailing young whale found near the coast of Athens in a rare sighting has returned to deeper waters after receiving medication, Greek officials said on Saturday.

For someone most often said to play tennis as if it were chess, Daniil Medvedev has had a white-knuckle ride into Sunday's Australian Open final.

Finicky to the point of distraction, Rafael Nadal cuts an instantly recognisable figure on court with idiosyncrasies that are regarded as charming by his fans but often irritating by opponents.

Rafael Nadal is chasing a record 21st Grand Slam crown in Sunday's Australian Open final but Daniil Medvedev is once again ready to act as the spoiler.

Hong Kong's oldest university covered up one of the last public tributes to the deadly 1989 Tiananmen Square crackdown on Saturday, as Beijing continues to muzzle dissent in the financial hub.

Hong Kong's oldest university covered up one of the last public tributes to the deadly 1989 Tiananmen Square crackdown on Saturday, as Beijing continues to muzzle dissent in the financial hub.

Molly Meacher's voice quivers with emotion as she tells how her aunt took her own life after her liver cancer tumour grew to the size of a football.

Australia flew a small team of emergency medical specialists to Honiara on Saturday after the Solomon Islands requested help in battling a worsening outbreak of Covid-19.

With Russian troops massed on Ukraine's border, US-funded Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty is trying to break through a "wall of Russian propaganda", its director for Europe told AFP.

Daniil Medvedev was fined a total of US$12,000 Saturday following his extraordinary outburst at the chair umpire during his semi-final win over Stefanos Tsitsipas at the Australian Open.

Singer Joni Mitchell said Friday she was pulling her music from Spotify over "lies" on the streaming service about Covid-19, just days after fellow musical titan Neil Young did the same.

Thousands of flights in the United States were canceled Saturday as parts of the East Coast braced for a shellacking by a powerful winter storm packing heavy snow and high winds.

A military court in Democratic Republic of Congo Saturday is set to pronounce a long-awaited verdict in a mass trial over the 2017 murder of two UN experts in a troubled central region.

Mikaela Shiffrin will head to Beijing with a proven Olympic track record and on the back of World Cup form after a tumultuous year that has kept her in the spotlight as one of the world's best alpine skiers.

Tens of thousands of Vietnamese on Saturday bidded farewell to the late monk and peace activist Thich Nhat Hanh -- one of the world's most influential religious leaders -- ahead of his cremation ceremony in the country's Buddhist heartland.

Taiwan will not send an official delegation to the opening or closing of the Beijing Winter Olympics due to China's strict pandemic controls and flight disruptions, the self-ruled island's governing body for sport said.

Colorado Avalanche star Nathan MacKinnon has been diagnosed with a facial fracture and a concussion after being bloodied by a hard hit in Wednesday's NHL game, the team announced on Friday.

Europe's fears of losing Russian gas supplies in the Ukraine crisis will loom large when Qatar's emir meets the US president on Monday but the powerful Gulf ruler has no "magic wand", analysts say.

Huthi fire from Yemen this month on the UAE, traditionally a haven of security in a turbulent Middle East, stirred alarm at home and abroad, but for many Saudis it's nothing new.

The oil spill off the coast of Peru sparked by a volcanic eruption thousands of miles away is twice as big as previously reported, the government said Friday.

All eyes will be on Yuzuru Hanyu when he attempts to complete a hat-trick of Olympic figure skating golds in Beijing, but don't expect that to bother him -- Japan's "Ice Prince" revels in the spotlight.