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France on Saturday prepared to choose between centrist President Emmanuel Macron and far-right challenger Marine Le Pen to rule the country for the next five years after a bitterly contested and polarising election campaign.

Gabriel Jesus scored four times as Manchester City crushed Watford 5-1 to move four points clear at the top of the Premier League on Saturday.

Thousands on Saturday celebrated the traditional "Holy Fire" ceremony of blazing candles at Christianity's holiest site in Jerusalem to mark the eve of Orthodox Easter.

Unbeaten heavyweight champion Tyson Fury prepared to put his WBC crown on the line against former sparring partner Dillian Whyte in a blockbuster all-British bout at Wembley on Saturday.

World champion Max Verstappen recovered from a poor start to fight back and win Saturday's 21-lap sprint race and claim pole position for Sunday's Emilia Romagna Grand Prix.

Aryna Sabalenka reached final of the Stuttgart WTA tournament for the second year running with a straight sets win over Paula Badosa on Saturday.

Ralf Rangnick admitted Manchester United's hopes of Champions League football next season are over after Arsenal took control of the battle for a top-four finish in the Premier League with a 3-1 win at the Emirates.

Frenchman Johann Zarco will start Sunday's Portuguese MotoGP in pole position on his Ducati Pramac after topping qualifying ahead of Spanish rider Joan Mir.

Castres boosted their hopes of a place in the end of season play-offs with a grinding 12-0 win at home to Clermont in round 23 of the French Top 14 on Saturday.

World champion Julian Alaphilippe has the opportunity to put some embarrassing near misses behind him when again attempts to win cycling's Liege-Bastogne-Liege on Sunday.

Thousands of protesters gathered Saturday in a northwest German village slated to disappear because of a coal mine expansion, as the country looks to decrease its reliance on Russian gas.

Rescuers in Japan were searching Saturday for a sightseeing boat carrying 26 people, hours after it sent a distress signal warning it was sinking, the country's transport minister said.

Novak Djokovic reached his first final of the year at the Serbia Open on Saturday after recovering from a set down to beat Karen Khachanov 4-6, 6-1 6-2.

"Fierce battles" raged in eastern Ukraine on Saturday all but killing hopes of an Easter truce as officials said they would make a fresh attempt to evacuate civilians from the war-torn city of Mariupol.

The 2022 Asian Games in China will go ahead, the Olympic Council of Malaysia said Saturday, denying claims that it was facing the possibility of being postponed.

Arsenal took control of the battle to finish in the Premier League top four with a 3-1 win over Manchester United to all but end the Red Devils' hopes of Champions League football next season.

Tibetan spiritual leader the Dalai Lama urged the public to reduce fossil fuel use during a meeting with activists to mark Earth Day, warning that the climate change crisis transcends national boundaries.

Former Springbok Pedrie Wannenburg, who died after a multi-vehicle crash in Texas this weekend, was a "gentle giant", a family friend told AFP on Saturday when confirming the tragedy.

The number of Ukrainians who have fled the country since Russia's invasion is approaching 5.2 million, the UN refugee agency said Saturday.

"Close the window, smoke is getting in," a policeman yells. Vyacheslav Pavlov and his elderly mother live on the ninth floor in Ukraine's second city Kharkiv and the next-door flat is ablaze after a Russian rocket attack.

George Russell was fastest in Saturday's free practice in a strong headwind as champions Mercedes bounced back from a disastrous opening day at the Emilia Romagna Grand Prix.

A viral video showing the impact of the prolonged coronavirus lockdown on Shanghai's residents has been taken down by China's internet censors Saturday, triggering an online backlash.

Ukrainesaid it would make a fresh attempt on Saturday to evacuate civilians from Mariupol, the devastated port city largely controlled by Russian forces, as hopes for a weekend truce during Orthodox Easter faded.

Pakistan's prime minister said Saturday he will chair an emergency meeting of a national task force for polio eradication after authorities detected the country's first case of the debilitating neurodegenerative disease in 15 months.

Israel said it will close its only crossing from the Gaza Strip for workers on Sunday in response to overnight rocket fire, stopping short of conducting retaliatory strikes in an apparent bid to ease tensions.

Hundreds of thousands of people, mostly children living in Africa, succumb every year to malaria, an age-old mosquito-borne scourge that worsened during the Covid-19 pandemic.

Hopes for a weekend truce in Ukraine to celebrate the Orthodox Easter faded with talks between Moscow and Kyiv stalled as Russia said it aimed to take full control over the east and south of its neighbour.

Sri Lanka's beleaguered prime minister came under increased pressure to step down on Saturday, as a cabinet minister and other senior party members backed street protests calling for resignations over a worsening economic crisis.

Trae Young delivered the game-winner for Atlanta in a 111-110 victory over the Miami Heat on Friday as the Hawks clawed their way back into their NBA playoff first-round series.

World number one Ko Jin-young fired eight birdies in a seven-under par 64 on Friday to grab a share of the second-round lead alongside Japan's Nasa Hataoka in the LPGA's Los Angeles Open.

After two months of sustained Russian artillery fire, the hamlet of Lysychansk, located just 14 kilometres (nine miles) from Russian ground forces, has turned into a ghost town.

Rio de Janeiro's carnival, a glittering, sequin-studded festival of the flesh, exploded back to life Friday with the first famed samba school parades since Covid-19 started devastating Brazil.