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Chinese tech giant Tencent on Wednesday posted its first drop in quarterly revenue since going public, as the company grapples with China's economic downturn, pandemic disruptions and ongoing scrutiny from regulators.

Norway's sovereign wealth fund, the world's largest, shrank by some 1.68 trillion kroner ($173.2 billion) in the first half of the year, weighed down by tech stocks, the Norwegian central bank said Wednesday.

European stock markets fell Wednesday as official data showed UK inflation surging to a new 40-year high.

Fit-again South Africa fast bowler Kagiso Rabada was set to be thrust straight into the action as Proteas captain Dean Elgar won the toss and elected to field in the first Test against England at Lord's on Wednesday.

Cristiano Ronaldo has hit out at the "lies" surrounding reports about his future at Manchester United.

A nuclear reactor in southern China has been reconnected to the electricity grid more than a year after it was shut down to repair damage, its operator said.

British inflation surged to a new 40-year high in July on soaring food prices, official data showed Wednesday, adding to a cost-of-living crisis as the country faces the prospect of recession.

Forest fires supercharged by climate change are burning twice as much global tree cover as 20 years ago, according to a data Wednesday showing the equivalent of 16 football pitches are now lost every minute.

The co-founder of the failed Terra cryptocurrency, which collapsed and wiped out about $40 billion of investors' money in May, has admitted he was "wrong", but said that he was not talking to South Korean investigators.

The French weather service warned Wednesday of flash flooding risks across much of the south, where a historic drought has parched the rugged Mediterranean hills, a day after fierce rainstorms lashed much of the country.

Indonesia celebrated its first independence day at its future capital in the ancient rainforests of eastern Borneo on Wednesday as the nation plans a move away from slowly sinking, traffic-clogged Jakarta.

Afghanistan's Olympic flag-bearer Kimia Yousofi has resettled in Australia after fleeing Taliban persecution, Games officials in Sydney said Wednesday, and the sprinter has already set her sights on Paris 2024.

Markets rose with oil prices on Wednesday following a rally on Wall Street, with Asia given a lift after China's premier called for more measures to boost the struggling economy.

The UN's new special envoy for Myanmar began meetings with top junta officials on Wednesday but did not respond to questions about whether she would seek to meet ousted leader Aung San Suu Kyi.

Elite women surfers returned to competition at "the world's heaviest wave" in Tahiti on Wednesday, ending a 16-year absence and getting a taste of the daunting challenge at the 2024 Paris Olympics.

British inflation surged to a new 40-year high in July on rising food prices, official data showed Wednesday, adding to a cost-of-living crisis as the country faces the prospect of recession.

Markets rose in Asia on Wednesday following a rally on Wall Street and after China's premier called for more measures to boost the struggling economy.

Minorities have been drafted into forced labour in China's Xinjiang region in sectors such as agriculture and manufacturing, a report by an independent UN expert has concluded, in what it said could amount to "enslavement as a crime against humanity".

A board member for the Tokyo Olympics was arrested Wednesday on suspicion of taking bribes, prosecutors said, along with three other men connected to the scandal.

Their campaign began in northern Mali a decade ago, advanced into the country's powder-keg centre and from there into neighbouring Niger and Burkina Faso.

Elon Musk tweeted on Tuesday that "I'm not buying any sports teams", calling a viral post about him purchasing Manchester United a joke.

Yokohama F Marinos manager Kevin Muscat said Wednesday his team would not fear Andres Iniesta when they face Vissel Kobe in Thursday's Asian Champions League round-of-16 showdown.

Australia's former leader on Wednesday defended secret arrangements he made to swear himself in to key portfolios including defence and treasury, saying he would only have used the roles in an emergency during the Covid-19 pandemic.

Battling record-low approval ratings after just three months on the job, South Korea's conservative President Yoon Suk-yeol said Wednesday he was not fixated on his dire polling numbers.

Scorching temperatures in eastern China have pushed up egg prices because hens are laying fewer in a hotter-than-usual summer, local media reported.

In a town in northeastern Scotland, Debbie Banks looks for clues to track down criminals as she clicks through a database of tiger skins.

Ian Foster will coach the All Blacks through to next year's World Cup, New Zealand Rugby said on Wednesday, giving him a vote of confidence following recent poor performances.

"A rush like this in the summertime, it's unheard of -- everybody wants coal," says Frithjof Engelke, a supplier of the briquettes which have become a hot commodity in the German capital.

Markets drifted in Asia on Wednesday, with investors trying to navigate an uncertain economic landscape as central banks hike interest rates to fight runaway inflation, in turn fuelling fears of a possible recession.

A crime reporter has been found dead in northwestern Mexico, authorities said Tuesday -- the latest suspected murder in what is already one of the deadliest years yet for the country's press.

Republican rebel Liz Cheney lost her seat in Congress Tuesday to an election conspiracy theorist, US media projected, in the latest sign of her party's break with traditional conservatism to embrace Donald Trump's hardline "America First" agenda.

Elon Musk tweeted Tuesday evening that he is purchasing the Manchester United football club, although it was not clear if the eccentric billionaire, currently embroiled in a lawsuit over his bid to buy Twitter, was being serious.