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Toyota has named a new CEO to "accelerate" decision-making, the Japanese auto giant said Friday as it hiked its profit and sales forecasts for the current fiscal year despite the impact of US tariffs.

Two medieval fortresses face each other across the Narva River separating Estonia from Russia on Europe's eastern edge.

The family of the kidnapped mother of a top US TV news anchor made a new plea for information from her captors on Thursday, after investigators said they believed the 84-year-old was still alive.

Captain Mitchell Marsh insists Australia can put their spin woes behind them at the T20 Cricket World Cup after a morale-sapping series defeat to Pakistan left their preparations in tatters.

Japan's Liberal Democratic Party (LDP) is one of the democratic world's most successful electoral machines, governing for all but four years since its founding seven decades ago.

Fast bowler Josh Hazlewood was on Friday ruled out of the T20 World Cup after failing to recover from hamstring and Achilles injuries in another setback for Australia.

Japan's Olympic committee is monitoring social media round the clock to protect athletes at the Milan-Cortina Games from online abuse and has already asked for hundreds of posts to be removed.

The leader of Bangladesh's largest Islamist party and prime ministerial hopeful Shafiqur Rahman has contested three elections and lost.

Veteran quarterback Matthew Stafford was named this season's NFL Most Valuable Player on Thursday, barely edging Drake Maye in the closest vote in years.

Japan will switch the world's largest nuclear power plant back on next week, after a glitch with an alarm forced the suspension of its first restart since the 2011 Fukushima disaster.

Sanae Takaichi, a staunch conservative who admires Margaret Thatcher, became Japan's first woman prime minister in October but has shown little appetite for framing her leadership around gender.

The Milan-Cortina Winter Olympics officially open with a star-studded opening ceremony at the San Siro Stadium on Friday.

Hong Kong pro-democracy media tycoon Jimmy Lai will be sentenced on Monday following his national security trial, a court website showed.

Scotland head coach Gregor Townsend will be hoping his side secure a convincing win over Italy in their Six Nations opener on Saturday in Rome and ease some of the pressure on him.

Taiwanese President Lai Ching-te's ambitious $40 billion defence spending plan is caught in a political deadlock as opposition lawmakers refuse to consider the proposal without government concessions, sparking criticism in Washington.

Inter Milan visit Sassuolo this weekend with the chance to stretch their lead at the top of the Serie A table to eight points with title rivals AC Milan not in action.

Real Madrid coach Alvaro Arbeloa and his star striker Kylian Mbappe agree on at least one thing, ahead of Sunday's visit to face Valencia in La Liga -- the need for consistency.

In just two matchdays, Borussia Dortmund have cut Bayern Munich's lead atop the Bundesliga ladder by five points, drawing six behind the league leaders and potentially reviving a title race long considered dead.

Paris Saint-Germain coach Luis Enrique expects his side to be pushed hard over the closing months of the Ligue 1 season, starting with Sunday's visit of unpredictable arch-rivals Marseille.

Japanese premier Sanae Takaichi won US President Donald Trump's full endorsement on Friday, two days before snap elections that polls suggest may see her coalition romp home with a super-majority.

AI tools can easily fabricate convincing images of Jeffrey Epstein with world leaders, a study showed Thursday, following a surge of manipulated photos falsely linking prominent politicians to the convicted sex offender.

Asian equities sank again Friday as a tech rout that battered Wall Street for the third day in a row showed no sign of letting up amid growing unease about the hundreds of billions splashed out on artificial intelligence.

The guitar played by late rock legend Kurt Cobain on the anthemic grunge track "Smells Like Teen Spirit" is going under the hammer next month.

Thais vote Sunday in an election pitting the popular reformists who won last time against the conservative who ended up as prime minister, with ex-leader Thaksin Shinawatra looming large from his prison cell.

The scandal surrounding disgraced former prince Andrew has thrust the British royal family and its opaque finances into the spotlight, with a parliamentary probe due in the coming months.

Armenia is facing an intensifying wave of disinformation and hybrid attacks from abroad ahead of parliamentary elections scheduled for June, officials have said, with media experts pointing the finger at Russia.

Australian undercover inspectors have found pubs fail to pour enough beer and other alcohol into customers' glasses for nearly a third of the drinks they serve.

Jeffrey Epstein cultivated a global network of politicians, top business executives, academics and celebrities, many of whom have been severely tainted by association with the convicted sex offender.

When Brazilian businessman Daniel Vorcaro was arrested last year over what may be the country's biggest ever banking fraud scandal, he boasted to police that he had friends in high places.

The argument that sport and politics should not mix could be tested at the Super Bowl halftime show on Sunday, when Puerto Rican superstar Bad Bunny performs against a backdrop of fury from right-wing critics.

Arsenal could take another giant step towards the Premier League title with victory over Sunderland on Saturday before Manchester City face a daunting trip to Liverpool.

The New England Patriots will seek a record seventh Super Bowl against the Seattle Seahawks on Sunday in a wide-open clash between two teams nobody expected to reach American football's biggest stage.