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The unprecedented opening ceremony planned for the 2024 Paris Olympics, just 500 days away, promises to be both spectacular and a serious security headache, with the arrangements still being worked out by anxious officials.

Daniel Scheinert and Daniel Kwan unleashed a film featuring people with hot dogs for fingers, rocks with googly eyes and emotions, and an everything bagel as the ultimate universal truth -- that nothing matters.

The Cheltenham Festival, jumps racing's showpiece meeting, starts on Tuesday with over 250,000 spectators -- many of them Irish on their annual pilgrimage -- expected over the four days.

Legendary English trainer Nicky Henderson's godfather was Field Marshal Bernard Montgomery and he would have been rightly proud of his godson's generalship in training 72 Cheltenham Festival winners.

"Navalny," a film that examines the poisoning of jailed Russian dissident Alexei Navalny, on Sunday won the Oscar for best documentary feature.

Most Asian markets fell Monday as the closure of two regional US banks sparked fears of contagion in the financial sector, even as officials promised to support customers.

He barely escaped Pakistan with his life after angering its powerful military with his journalism. Now his story has become a comic book.

American Jessica Pegula still finds it "weird" to think of herself as the world's number three player, but she doesn't feel any particular pressure to live up to the ranking.

Subversive sci-fi flick "Everything Everywhere All at Once" collected key early prizes Sunday at the Oscars, where it is favorite to win the highly coveted best picture prize, as the star-studded Hollywood gala began with a flurry of jokes about the infamous slap.

Simone Inzaghi is in the firing line as his Inter Milan side travel to Porto trying to make the last eight of the Champions League and turn a depressing tide of bad results away from home.

As Erling Haaland was mobbed by his Manchester City team-mates, the Norway star's broad grin gave Pep Guardiola renewed belief that his coveted striker is still happy at the club ahead of Tuesday's decisive Champions League clash with RB Leipzig.

China's Xi Jinping on Monday emphasised the need to strengthen national security, in his first address since being handed a historic third term as the country's president.

One of the major headaches, not just for the Paris 2024 organising committee but also for the International Olympic Committee, is how to handle the ongoing war in Ukraine.

The decision on whether Russian athletes should compete in the Paris Olympics is the biggest headache facing organisers 500 days out from the opening ceremony, former senior IOC officials have told AFP.

Organisers of the 2024 Paris Olympics say they plan to make the Games the world's first 'climate positive' sporting event, a boast experts claim is 'misleading'.

Japan's government eased its mask guidelines on Monday, recommending them only on crowded trains and in hospitals or care homes, but there was little sign residents were keen to unmask.

In 500 days on Tuesday, the 2024 Summer Olympics will burst into life in Paris as the teams float down the River Seine on barges in a unique opening ceremony.

The European Central Bank is all but certain to raise interest rates again on Thursday, shifting analysts' attention to how much higher policymakers plan to go in the months ahead to tame inflation.

US authorities unveiled sweeping measures Sunday to rescue depositors' money in full from failed Silicon Valley Bank and to promise other institutions help in meeting customers' needs, as they announced a second tech-friendly bank had been closed by regulators.

It's been a year, but the power of "The Slap" lives on.

A wrenching German adaptation of the classic war novel "All Quiet on the Western Front" clinched the Academy Award for best international feature Sunday with its timely anti-militarist message.

She is Hollywood royalty, the daughter of two legendary actors. She became a scream queen for the ages in the "Halloween" films and did a sexy striptease for Arnold Schwarzenegger in "True Lies." Now, Jamie Lee Curtis is an Oscar winner.

The Oscars began Sunday with a thunderous "Top Gun" flyover and a flurry of jokes about "The Slap," launching a night in which sci-fi flick "Everything Everywhere All at Once" leads the pack with 11 nominations including for best picture.

It is a comeback story so improbable, it could only happen in Hollywood.

The Oscars is the pinnacle of Hollywood's awards season, and thus the A-listers in attendance typically save their best looks for last. On Sunday, the stars did not disappoint.

"Guillermo del Toro's Pinocchio," a strikingly dark take on the beloved children's book about an exuberant living puppet and his elderly wood-carver father, won best animated feature at the Academy Awards on Sunday.

US authorities unveiled sweeping measures Sunday to rescue depositors' money in full from failed Silicon Valley Bank and to promise other institutions help in meeting customers' needs, as they announced a second tech-friendly bank had been closed by regulators.

South Korea and the United States kicked off their largest joint military exercises in five years on Monday, after nuclear-armed Pyongyang warned such drills could be seen as a "declaration of war".

Chilean qualifier Cristian Garin shocked third-seeded Casper Ruud 6-4, 7-6 (7/2) to reach the fourth round at Indian Wells on Sunday as in-form Briton Cameron Norrie survived a scare.

Arms imports into Europe almost doubled in 2022, driven by massive shipments to Ukraine, which has become the world's third-largest destination, researchers said Monday.

Raphinha's strike earned Barcelona an agonising 1-0 win over Athletic Bilbao on Sunday to restore their nine-point lead over Real Madrid at the top of La Liga.

American Scottie Scheffler returned to number one in the world rankings on Sunday after winning The Players Championship at TPC Sawgrass by five strokes.