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France on Friday caught one of two detainees who used bed sheets to escape from prison a day earlier after sawing through the bars of their cell, a prosecutor said.

Stock markets were little changed Friday, capping a solid week driven by expectations of more US rate cuts, with trading thinned by the Thanksgiving holiday and a data centre outage.

The scheduled launch of rugby's proposed rebel R360 competition targeting the game's top stars has been pushed back by two years to 2028, organisers announced on Friday.

US President Donald Trump said on Thursday he would suspend migration from what he called "third world countries", a day after an Afghan national allegedly shot two National Guard soldiers in Washington, killing one.

Israeli forces killed 13 people on Friday in an operation in southern Syria, the deadliest since Bashar al-Assad's fall from power nearly a year ago, which they said was targeting an Islamist group.

Sri Lanka deployed the military for relief and rescue operations on Friday as the death toll from floods and landslides across the island rose to 56, with another 21 people missing.

History-making Eritrean Biniam Girmay will leave Intermarche-Wanty before next season, the Belgian cycling team announced on Friday.

Shoes squeaking in perfect unison, dozens of Japanese students move in formation through a Yokohama sports hall in training for a synchronised walking performance expected to draw thousands.

Organisers are confident they can avoid the calamities of last time when India hosts the Commonwealth Games but there are many challenges for a country that also has Olympic ambitions.

Star rookie Isack Hadjar told AFP he would relish "the incredible opportunity" of becoming Max Verstappen's teammate at Red Bull next season.

Iran is to boycott next week's World Cup finals draw in Washington because the United States refused to grant visas to several members of the delegation, the Iranian football federation announced on Friday.

New Zealand's Kazuma Kobori fired a stunning eight-under-par 63 to take a one-stroke lead at the Australian PGA Championship on Friday as breakout DP World Tour star Marco Penge and PGA Tour winner Min Woo Lee charged up the leaderboard.

The death toll from Hong Kong's worst blaze in decades rose to 128 on Friday, with dozens still missing, as authorities said fire alarms in the residential estate buildings had been malfunctioning.

Days of devastating flooding across Southeast Asia have killed more than 250 people across Indonesia, Thailand and Malaysia, authorities said on Friday.

Sweeping legal reforms and regional conflict have consolidated the Pakistani military's grip on power in the past year, diluting the role of the civilian government while offering an unprecedented legal shield to the army chief, experts say.

Most markets squeezed out gains Friday at the end of a strong week for equities fuelled by growing expectations that the Federal Reserve will cut interest rates again next month.

The world's top wildlife trade organisation increased protections on Friday for more than 70 species of sharks and rays, in a move conservationists hailed as a "historical win".

The toll from days of flooding in Southeast Asia rose on Friday, with at least 111 dead in Indonesia, and a hospital in southern Thailand announcing its morgue was full.

Pope Leo XIV will join the leader of the world's Orthodox Christians Friday to celebrate 1,700 years since one of the early Church's most important gatherings, on the second day of his visit to Turkey.

Most markets squeezed out gains Friday at the end of a strong week for equities fuelled by growing expectations that the Federal Reserve will cut interest rates again next month.

Muslim-majority Turkey, which is hosting Pope Leo XIV on his first overseas trip as pontiff, is not "a hostile environment" for Christians, the Ecumenical Patriarch of Constantinople told AFP in an interview.

Donald Trump said Thursday he would suspend migration from what the US leader called "third world countries", a day after an Afghan national allegedly shot two National Guard soldiers in Washington, killing one.

The toll from days of flooding in Southeast Asia rose on Friday, with at least 90 dead in Indonesia, and a hospital in southern Thailand announcing its morgue was full.

Sri Lankan authorities deployed the military for relief and rescue operations Friday as the death toll from floods and landslides rose to 56, with another 21 people listed as missing.

A worker accused of "stealing" snacks worth less than a dollar in South Korea has finally been acquitted after a legal battle lasting nearly two years.

Skipper Pat Cummins was missing Friday from Australia's squad for the second day-night Ashes Test against England in Brisbane as he battles back from injury, but under-pressure opener Usman Khawaja retained his place.

After a stuttering start to the season, Paris Saint-Germain will be hoping to keep imperious midfield trio Vitinha, Joao Neves and Fabian Ruiz fit enough to help them recapture last term's scintillating form.

Roma are surprise leaders of Serie A heading into Sunday's clash with Napoli, a fixture which will go some way to showing whether Gian Piero Gasperini's side are the real deal.

A man who attacked Pope John Paul II in 1981 was escorted from the Turkish town of Iznik on Thursday ahead of Pope Leo XIV's visit there, Turkish media reported.

More than 150 Chinese companies are making humanoid robots but a market bubble risks forming in the rapidly growing futuristic industry, a Beijing official has warned.

Markets fluctuated Friday at the end of a strong week for equities fuelled by growing expectations that the Federal Reserve will cut interest rates again next month.

Charming Donald Trump one week, angering China the next, Japan's Prime Minister Sanae Takaichi has had a busy start and is riding high in the polls, all on a few hours of sleep a night.