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President Vladimir Putin met Serbia's deputy premier in Russia on Wednesday, less than a week after Belgrade signed a multi-billion-dollar fighter jet deal with France.

A Russian strike on west Ukraine's Lviv, hundreds of kilometers from the front, killed seven people on Wednesday, authorities said as Moscow claimed advances in the war-torn nation's east.

Tech firms led a plunge across equity markets Wednesday after a rout on Wall Street fuelled by a collapse in chip titan Nvidia and disappointing data on US factory activity that revived recession fears and pushed the dollar lower.

Pope Francis waded back into a controversial debate on parenthood Wednesday, hailing Indonesia's birthrate and joking that people in other countries would rather have a pet cat or dog than their own babies.

Australian actor Simon Baker, the star of "Margin Call" and "Devil Wears Prada", pleaded guilty on Wednesday to drink driving, as his case was heard at a court near the beach resort of Byron Bay.

The UK's Grenfell Tower fire disaster that killed 72 people was the result of "decades of failure" by government and construction industry bodies and the "systematic dishonesty" of building material firms, a damning final report said on Wednesday.

Sales of new cars plummeted in Germany in August, official data showed Wednesday, dragged down by a record fall in demand for electric vehicles in Europe's biggest auto market.

Wout van Aert suffered a "serious" knee injury but no fracture in the crash that ended his involvement in the Vuelta a Espana, the Belgian's Visma-Lease team said on Wednesday.

Concussions in amateur sport are not linked to increased long-term risks of cognitive decline, according to a study published on Wednesday.

Rome's ancient Arch of Constantine was hit by lightning during a heavy storm, causing some fragments to fall off, an official said Wednesday.

Tens of thousands of pupils in France are going through a slightly different return to school this autumn, deprived of their mobile phones.

British fencer Piers Gilliver said he was "gutted" to have to settle for silver in the men's Paralympics sabre but admitted it was "great even just to be here competing" after struggling with serious concussion last year.

Cathay Pacific said it will resume full operations by Saturday after replacing defective engine fuel lines on its Airbus A350 planes, a problem that had forced it to cancel dozens of flights this week.

Tech firms led a plunge across equity markets Wednesday after a rout on Wall Street fuelled by a collapse in chip titan Nvidia and disappointing data on US factory activity that revived recession fears.

Saint Lucia's sprint queen Julien Alfred, her American rival Sha'Carri Richardson and Olympic men's 200m champion Letsile Tebogo headline a panoply of stars from the Paris Games at Thursday's Diamond League meet in Zurich.

A Russian strike on the historic centre of Lviv in western Ukraine has killed seven people including three children, officials said Wednesday, a day after a particularly bloody attack in the central city of Poltava in which dozens died.

Pakistan cricket was reeling Wednesday after its first-ever Test defeats against Bangladesh, the latest in a string of poor performances which have seen the game hit rock bottom.

Japan has wiped out all mongooses on a subtropical island, officials said, after the animals ignored the venomous snakes they were brought in to hunt and preyed on endangered local rabbits instead.

Nepal gave their first-ever Paralympic medallist a hero's welcome Wednesday as cheering crowds turned out for taekwondo star Palesha Goverdhan's return home.

The historian running the memorial at Germany's former Nazi concentration camp Buchenwald is no stranger to hate crime and threats, but he fears more trouble ahead after the far-right AfD's election triumph.

The enticing smell of grilled corn and chestnuts wafted from Hakan Deniz's red and gold food cart near a mosque in Istanbul's old city. But local customers are hard to come by these days.

Frances Tiafoe heads into Friday's all-American US Open semi-final against Taylor Fritz insisting that nobody is unbeatable anymore.

Pope Francis appealed Wednesday for religious unity to counter extremism and intolerance, as the longest tour of the 87-year-old's papacy got into full swing in Muslim-majority Indonesia.

Frances Tiafoe and Taylor Fritz set up an all-American US Open semi-final on Tuesday as compatriot Emma Navarro reached the women's last four to boost home hopes of a title sweep.

Bangladesh's new leader led the celebrations after a first-ever Test series win over Pakistan, with commentators calling it a victory to savour a month after unrest ousted the autocratic former premier.

Australia's "Raygun" has apologised for the backlash that her widely ridiculed Paris Olympics performance brought to the broader breakdancing community.

Frances Tiafoe set up an all-American US Open semi-final against Taylor Fritz on Tuesday, guaranteeing a home player in the men's final for the first time in 18 years.

Ezra Frech's dream is to become the most successful Paralympian in history and with two golds at the age of 19 he is well on his way -- but his goal is to use his high profile to "de-stigmatise" disability.

Canadian wheelchair basketballer Nikola Goncin helped his country into the semi-finals at the Paris Paralympics on Tuesday but in his day job the Bosnia-born star makes orthotic devices for disabled and injured children.

During her final years of high school, Chinese teenager Xu Yunting found an unusual way to make some pocket money -- transforming herself into male video game characters and taking their female devotees on dates.

Crowds descended on the home of 17-year-old Chinese diver Quan Hongchan after she won two golds at the Paris Olympics while gymnast Zhang Boheng hid in a Beijing airport toilet to escape overzealous throngs of fans.

At least 51 people were killed and hundreds wounded Tuesday in a Russian missile attack on the Ukrainian city of Poltava, authorities said, in one of the single deadliest bombardments of the two-and-a-half-year war.