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Spaniard Pedro Acosta mastered the moody Malaysian weather to snatch the fastest time ahead of Frenchman Johann Zarco in a chaotic second practice on Friday for the MotoGP at Sepang.

Patrick Reed, once labelled "the most hated man in golf", opened up Friday about the toll taken on his family by allegations of cheating that have dogged his career.

George Clooney plays an actor looking back at his past in Netflix's "Jay Kelly," but in real life, the US star has his eyes on the future.

Muscles bulging, bodybuilder Takuya Usui settles a woman into her wheelchair at a Japanese care home, where jacked Gen Zers are helping to ease labour shortages in a struggling industry.

Most stock markets rallied Friday after the White House confirmed President Donald Trump would meet China's Xi Jinping next week, stoking optimism for a cooling of trade tensions between the economic superpowers.

Beijing and Washington "can totally find ways to resolve each other's concerns", China's commerce minister said Friday, as officials from both sides were set to meet in Malaysia for trade talks.

US President Donald Trump said Thursday he was ending trade talks with Canada over an anti-tariff advertising campaign, a sudden about-face soon after a cordial White House meeting with Prime Minister Mark Carney.

Japan's new Prime Minister Sanae Takaichi said Friday she will bring US ties to "new heights" in talks with President Donald Trump, while taking a swipe at China and vowing a stricter stance on foreigners.

Women in Australia's defence forces launched a class action lawsuit Friday alleging widespread and systematic sexual violence, harassment and discrimination.

South Korea's unification minister said Friday he believed there was a "considerable" chance that US President Donald Trump will meet North Korean leader Kim Jong Un during a visit to the peninsula next week.

Brazil's President Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva said Friday he would tell US leader Donald Trump in any meeting at a summit in Malaysia starting this weekend that tariffs on his country were a "mistake".

US President Donald Trump's trip to Asia which begins Sunday carries significant economic stakes for countries around the region, with multiple tariff deals still pending and a trade dispute simmering between Washington and Beijing.

In a factory in southern Ivory Coast, where machines hum to produce chocolate bars and spreads, twin brothers dream of becoming "giants of cocoa processing".

More than 1,000 people, mostly Chinese, have fled from Myanmar into Thailand this week, Thai authorities said on Friday, after the Myanmar military raided one of the country's largest scam centres.

Nnimmo Bassey, a prominent figure in the decades-long environmental struggles in Africa's largest oil-producing country, will next month attend yet another UN climate summit, this time in Brazil.

Drastic aid cuts, notably by the United States, have made it vital for Europe to better manage health resources, the director of WHO Europe told AFP.

Venezuelan President Nicolas Maduro pleaded Thursday against a "crazy war" as an escalating US military campaign sent tensions soaring.

Major US and Japanese animation studios including HBO Max and Amazon unknowingly hired North Korean IT workers, a joint government report has found.

British clockmaker Ian Westworth is bracing for a wave of concern this weekend from Londoners convinced the country's most famous clock Big Ben has broken down.

False claims that Japan's new prime minister has created a ministry for "mass deportations" have been widely spread online, as immigration misinformation swirls after a "Japanese first" party did well in elections earlier this year.

Alaska Airlines said Thursday it had temporarily suspended all flights due to a tech outage, three months after a similar incident.

Ecuadoran President Daniel Noboa said Thursday that an unknown assailant had attempted to poison him with chocolate and a jam laced with chemicals, gifted to him at a public event.

Elena Rybakina clinched the eighth and last spot at next month's WTA Finals when she beat Victoria Mboko 6-3, 7-6 (7/4) on Friday to reach the Pan Pacific semi-finals in Tokyo.

Spanish rookie Fermin Aldeguer was fastest at a rain-interrupted Malaysian MotoGP first practice on Friday as compatriot Alex Marquez crashed.

Justin Herbert threw for 227 yards and three touchdowns to spark the Los Angeles Chargers over the Minnesota Vikings 37-10 in the NFL on Thursday.

Shai Gilgeous-Alexander scored a career-high 55 points to lead reigning champion Oklahoma City over Indiana 141-135 in double overtime on Thursday in a historic rematch of last season's NBA Finals.

After 14 years of destruction, Syria must be swiftly rebuilt to bring stability to the country and the wider region, a top UN official in the war-ravaged nation told AFP.

India trialled cloud seeding over its smog-filled capital for the first time, spraying a chemical from an aeroplane to encourage rain and wash deadly particles out of the air.

La Rochelle's Nolann Le Garrec, Bordeaux-Begles' Maxime Lucu and Clermont's Baptiste Jauneau have one last opportunity to push their case to stand-in for Antoine Dupont for France during the Autumun Nations Series, when they feature in the French Top 14 this weekend.

Last season Barcelona romped to four Clasico victories over Real Madrid but led by in-form striker Kylian Mbappe, Los Blancos are aiming to redress the balance on Sunday in La Liga.

England take on world champions Australia in the first Test of the long-awaited best-of-three Rugby League Ashes series in Wembley on Saturday keen to banish a repeat of agonising late defeats.

Just seven rounds into the Bundesliga season, a Harry Kane-powered Bayern Munich are already threatening to pull away from the chasing pack.