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A generation of Italian children are yet to see their national team take part in a World Cup as the beleaguered Azzurri delivered another qualification disaster which was met with horror by fans and media.

A journeyman Australian has emerged as an unlikely saviour of Indian football after the 32-year-old took just four minutes to score on his debut for the country and made a small piece of history.

Leading economic institutes more than halved their growth forecasts for Germany on Wednesday, warning that the energy shock caused by the Middle East war would hit Europe's top economy hard.

Police in Spain said on Wednesday that they were investigating "Islamophobic and xenophobic" chants heard during the Spain-Egypt international football match in Barcelona.

Italians will once again be forced to watch a World Cup from the sidelines after another play-off disaster highlighted just how far one of the great footballing nations has fallen.

Tehran was rocked by a fresh wave of explosions Wednesday, as US President Donald Trump said the war with Iran could be over in two or three weeks.

A study commissioned by Greenpeace said on Wednesday that oil companies have been making more than 80 million euros a day in "war profits" in the European Union since the start of the war in the Middle East.

Australian Prime Minister Anthony Albanese warned Wednesday the months ahead "may not be easy" because of the Middle East war, in a rare address to the nation across television networks.

Fiji are looking for a new coach just 18 months before the Rugby World Cup after parting ways "by mutual agreement" with Mick Byrne on Wednesday.

Equities rallied and oil tumbled Wednesday after US President Donald Trump said the Middle East war would be over in up to three weeks and his Iranian counterpart said Tehran had "the necessary will" to bring it to an end.

Coach Graham Arnold challenged his team to "shock the world" after Iraq became the 48th and final team to qualify for the World Cup with a nerve-shredding 2-1 win over Bolivia in an intercontinental playoff in Mexico on Tuesday.

Luka Doncic returned from suspension to score 42 points as the Los Angeles Lakers defeated the Cleveland Cavaliers 127-113 to extend their impressive form with a fourth straight victory on Tuesday.

Anthropic accidentally released part of the internal source code for its AI-powered coding assistant Claude Code due to "human error," the company said Tuesday.

Jason Heath had ventured with his family from northeastern Maine to the Sunshine State for a vacation -- but soon found out they were set to "witness history" with the launch of NASA's Artemis 2 mission.

Israel struck Iran's capital on Wednesday ahead of US President Donald Trump's planned address to the American public on the month-long war he said could end within weeks.

Coach Hajime Moriyasu cautioned it was only a friendly, but Japan's slice of history with a statement 1-0 win over England at Wembley shows they could go deep at the World Cup.

Iraq became the 48th and final team to qualify for the World Cup on Tuesday, defeating Bolivia 2-1 in an intercontinental playoff in Mexico to seal their first appearance at the finals in 40 years.

Russian women say the idea of "therapising" them into having children is coercive, cruel and unworkable, and will do little to reverse declining birth rates -- currently at their lowest in 200 years.

Three men with alleged ties to a German extremist group that plotted to overthrow the government and kidnap a minister will go on trial in Munich on Wednesday.

Pope Leo XIV is preparing to celebrate Easter for the first time as pontiff a year after his predecessor's death, as concerns grow among Christians over the Middle East war.

A string of self-driving robotaxis owned by Chinese internet giant Baidu stalled in central China, stranding passengers after an apparent "system malfunction", police said Wednesday.

Captain Son Heung-min admitted South Korea have work to do after losing two friendlies in Europe without scoring a goal and with his own form under scrutiny ahead of the World Cup.

Divorcing parents in Japan can opt to share custody starting Wednesday, ending a system both criticised for encouraging parental child "abductions" and defended as a safeguard for domestic abuse survivors.

The NFL will not scrap pro-diversity policies that require teams to interview minority candidates, despite legal pressure from Florida's Republican attorney general, commissioner Roger Goodell said Tuesday.

Delirious football fans took to the soaked streets of the capital Kinshasa and danced into the night in the rain after the Democratic Republic of Congo reached the World Cup for the first time in 52 years.

Super Mario's creator Shigeru Miyamoto told AFP he had never imagined that the "little character I drew would become so big", bouncing through the decades from pixellated New York sewers to a silver-screen space epic.

President Donald Trump will watch the US Supreme Court hear a landmark case Wednesday weighing the constitutionality of his contentious bid to end birthright citizenship -- an extraordinary and possibly unprecedented move for the nation's highest office.

Young opening batsman Sam Konstas and veteran all-rounder Glenn Maxwell were axed Wednesday as Cricket Australia announced a list of 21 nationally contracted players for the 2026-27 season.

Brazil bounced back from last week's friendly defeat to France to score a 3-1 victory over Croatia in their World Cup warm-up game in Orlando on Tuesday.

Asian stocks rallied Wednesday after US President Donald Trump said the Middle East war would be over in up to three weeks and his Iranian counterpart said Tehran had "the necessary will" to bring it to an end.

Spain's football federation and coach Luis de la Fuente condemned anti-Muslim chants that marred the 0-0 draw with Egypt in Barcelona on Tuesday in a pre-World Cup friendly.

Hong Kong's beloved kapok trees are not blooming the way they used to, drawing concern from conservationists who see it as a sign that nature is falling out of sync as the climate warms.

On Wednesday three men and one woman are set to embark on the first crewed journey to the Moon since 1972, a landmark odyssey that aims to launch the US into a new era of space exploration.

Lionel Messi scored one goal and set up another as Argentina thrashed Zambia 5-0 on Tuesday in the South Americans' final game on home soil before launching the defense of their World Cup crown.

As the Middle East war drives up oil prices, the UK's main opposition Conservative party is urging the government to restart drilling in the North Sea -- echoing repeated calls from US President Donald Trump.

In the 1960s Ed Dwight was the first Black astronaut candidate -- but he never got his chance to go to the Moon.

The US Supreme Court is to hear a landmark case on Wednesday as it weighs in on the constitutionality of President Donald Trump's contentious bid to end birthright citizenship.

Carmakers are expected to report lower first-quarter US sales as the Middle East war clouds the industry's outlook compared with unusually favorable dynamics a year ago.

Just three weeks into his term, Chile's new President Jose Antonio Kast has lost no time in tilting the rudder sharply to the right as he looks to slash spending and crack down on immigration, both policies a major about-turn on predecessor Gabriel Boric.