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Turkey's central bank on Thursday bowed to market pressure and halted a four-month streak of interest rate cuts that saw inflation soar and the currency collapse.

Benedict XVI, accused of failing to act in German sex abuse cases, was the first pope to resign since the Middle Ages after presiding over a papacy beset by Church infighting and outcry over paedophilia.

Daniil Medvedev took aim at sections of the raucous Australian Open crowd following his entertaining victory over home hero Nick Kyrgios on Thursday, saying: "They probably have a low IQ."

American Airlines reported another quarterly loss Thursday after the latest Covid-19 surge dented demand at the end of the year, but said consumers were booking more trips for the spring.

Wales wing Alex Cuthbert has been given a three-week ban for a dangerous tackle during the Ospreys' Europeans Champions Cup clash with Racing 92, tournament organisers announced Thursday.

Reigning US Open champion Emma Raducanu crashed out of the Australian Open in the second round Thursday as she struggled with blisters on her hand so bad that some of her team had urged her not to play.

Rivals St Pauli and Hamburg clash on Friday in historically one of the fiercest derbies in German football, with the two sides fresh from knocking Bundesliga clubs Borussia Dortmund and Cologne out of the German Cup.

Indonesia will push for the creation of a new global health agency while the country holds the presidency of the G20, President Joko Widodo said Thursday at the virtual Davos forum.

Swiss snowboarder Patrizia Kummer is serving her time in quarantine as she prepares to compete at the 2022 Beijing Winter Olympics unvaccinated for Covid-19.

A years-long saga over tech firms transferring data from Europe to the US re-erupted on Thursday, days after Austrian officials slapped down Google for failing to respect EU privacy rules.

Nick Kyrgios said that he put on a "good show" during four high-octane sets against Daniil Medvedev and has no plans to change despite bowing out of the Australian Open on Thursday.

Norway's 2020 overall World Cup champion Aleksander Aamodt Kilde is aiming to keep his simple ethos of successful skiing ticking over into next month's Beijing Olympics.

British artist Tracey Emin demanded Thursday that Prime Minister Boris Johnson's Downing Street office remove an artwork of hers reading "More Passion," saying it did not need further encouragement to party.

European Central Bank chief Christine Lagarde suggested Thursday that Renaissance master Leonardo da Vinci and pioneering French politician Simone Veil appear on the new euro banknotes, as she waded into a politically sensitive topic.

Australian Open chiefs said Thursday that their Covid measures were working after several players questioned the "optional" testing policy at the Grand Slam.

Scientists have discovered a vast reef of "pristine" rose-shaped corals apparently unharmed by climate change in deep water off the coast of Tahiti, UNESCO announced Thursday.

Tonga prop Ben Tameifuna said on Wednesday a tsunami that hit the Pacific Island nation last weekend will "knock it back a few steps" after also struggling due to coronavirus restrictions.

European stock markets mainly fell Thursday with sentiment jarred by sliding shares on Wall Street, which was rocked by surging global inflation and the prospect of rising interest rates.

A growing number of Western nations and cybersecurity groups have issued digital surveillance warnings for next month's Winter Olympics in Beijing, with some advising foreign athletes to leave personal phones and laptops at home.

Daniil Medvedev tamed Nick Kyrgios to surge into the Australian Open third round on Thursday and avoid joining Garbine Muguruza and Emma Raducanu on the list of high-profile casualties.

An app that Winter Olympics attendees must use has been patched, a Chinese official told AFP Thursday, after cyber security researchers said they had found a "simple but devastating" flaw that could allow data leaks.

Emirates said Thursday it will lift a suspension of flights to several US destinations in a "temporary reprieve" after the launch of 5G networks was delayed near American airports over safety fears.

"Frustrated" three-time Grand Slam champion Andy Murray was stunned by Japanese qualifier Taro Daniel in straight sets in the second round of the Australian Open on Thursday.

Several Afghan women's rights activists said Thursday they are going into hiding to escape a Taliban crackdown, just days after the hardline Islamists used pepper spray to break up a rally in the capital.

A British man who took hostages at a Texas synagogue told his family he had prayed for two years to carry out the attack, media reported Thursday, as police made two arrests.

A Paris court on Thursday ruled that Twitter must reveal its measures for fighting hate speech, in one of several cases thrashing out whether the French justice system has jurisdiction over the US social media giant.

The stark contrast between the lives of two coronavirus patients unearthed by Chinese contact tracers sparked a widespread debate on Thursday over the country's entrenched wealth inequality.

Online retail giant Amazon could pull out of a deal to create its Africa headquarters in Cape Town, if a legal challenge by indigenous activists is allowed to proceed, a Cape Town court heard Thursday.

Garbine Muguruza was among several seeds to fall on a day of shocks at the Australian Open on Thursday ahead of men's title favourite Daniil Medvedev and Nick Kyrgios squaring off in a blockbuster encounter.

Former Olympic long jump champion Greg Rutherford has failed in his attempt to win medals at both the summer and winter Games after missing the cut for Britain's bobsleigh team for Beijing.

Misfiring Stefanos Tsitsipas survived a thorough examination by former world number one junior Sebastian Baez before taking his place in the third round of the Australian Open on Thursday.

Spain is spearheading calls for governments to start tackling Covid-19 as any other endemic respiratory virus like seasonal flu, despite WHO opposition and warnings that the approach is premature.