AFP Sport takes a look at six of the world's best players who will be competing in the tournament: Lionel Messi (ARG) -- Arguably the greatest player of all time, Messi has yet to emulate past legends Pele and Diego Maradona by winning football's ...

The first ever World Cup held in the Arab world -- and the first staged outside of the northern hemisphere's summer window -- gets under way at the 60,000-capacity Al Bayt Stadium, where hosts Qatar take on Ecuador in Group A. It marks the start of...

"The analyses conducted found traces of explosives on several foreign objects" found at the sites of the blasts, prosecutor Mats Ljungqvist who is leading the preliminary investigation said in a statement. Ljungqvist added that technical analyses w...

The star of comic-book movies such as "Deadpool" and "Green Lantern" made headlines last year when he bought lowly Welsh soccer team Wrexham, along with fellow actor Rob McElhenney. Their takeover and the fifth-tier team's subsequent bid for promot...

Graham Arnold's team face a tough task getting out of Group D, which also contains Tunisia and dark horses Denmark. But Mabil, who plays for Cadiz in La Liga, said the Australians would not be overawed when they face one of the tournament favourite...

Prince Mohammed was named prime minister by royal decree in late September, sparking suggestions he was looking to skirt exposure in cases filed in foreign courts -- including a civil action brought in the US by Hatice Cengiz, fiancee of slain colum...

In a speech on the sidelines of the Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation (APEC) summit, Macron cast France as a balancing power in a region long dominated by the superpower tussle between China and the United States. The APEC summit comes days after a...

India has laboured to rein in cryptocurrency transactions after years of phenomenal growth, backed by burgeoning local trading platforms and glitzy celebrity endorsements. Modi last year said that bitcoin presented a risk to younger generations and...

Addressing a summit in Bangkok, Harris called the United States a "proud Pacific power" and said that the longstanding US network of security alliances has allowed Asia to prosper. "The United States is here to stay," Harris told business leaders o...

Ranatunga has been locked in a bitter battle with Thilanga Sumathipala, a four-time president of Sri Lanka Cricket, and the pair have regularly traded accusations of graft and match-fixing. Thursday's civil court judgement dates back to an inciden...

Kevin Durant led the Nets with 35 points. O'Neale scored 11 points with 10 rebounds and 11 assists and Ben Simmons scored 15 points with 13 rebounds for his first double-double since joining the Nets. Yuta Watanabe added 20 points off the bench for...

His had once been a thriving neighbourhood of neat houses and tree-shaded avenues. Today his cherished home is surrounded by the wreckage of demolished houses, separated from the sprawling pit by a concrete barrier. The Chinese-owned mine wants to...

Hours after North Korea fired a missile that Japan said was capable of striking the US mainland, Harris met the leaders of close US partners on the sidelines of an Asia-Pacific summit in Bangkok. "We strongly condemn these actions and we again call...

"Lisbon checked all the boxes," the 40-year-old American entrepreneur told AFP. It even has a suspension bridge that is almost a dead ringer for San Francisco's Golden Gate. "My partner and I were looking to slow life down and enjoy things more....

The "forest ghost" which lives in tree-covered mountains straddling Albania, Kosovo and North Macedonia, is now among the world's most endangered mammals, scientists warn. The victim of deforestation and poaching, there are less than 40 of these so...