The Vatican has launched an official athletics team.

Australia’s foreign minister praised Thailand on Thursday for its handling of a young Saudi woman who fled her family to seek asylum in Australia, but also reminded it of continuing concern about a Bahraini soccer player granted asylum in Australia who remains in Thai detention.

Spanish police are investigating 28 professional players for match-fixing, including one who participated in last year’s U.S. Open.

Authorities have banned demonstrations in a large section of central Athens and will shut down streets and subway stations during a visit by German Chancellor Angela Merkel, who arrives in the Greek capital Thursday afternoon for meetings with Prime Minister Alexis Tsipras and other officials.

The chairman of Romania’s ruling party, who has clashed with the European Union over the government’s approach to fighting high-level corruption, is expected to miss events marking Romania’s six-month presidency of the bloc.

Turkey’s foreign minister says a planned Turkish military offensive against U.S.-allied Kurdish fighters in northeast Syria doesn’t depend on whether the United States withdraws its troops from the region.

Officials in Davos have authorized a protest by Socialist youth against U.S. President Donald Trump and other expected attendees of the annual World Economic Forum in the Swiss ski resort this month.

Sudanese activists say two protesters have been killed in clashes between police and demonstrators calling on longtime President Omar al-Bashir to step down.

Former champion Philipp Kohlschreiber defeated second-seeded Fabio Fognini again 6-3, 6-1 to reach the ASB Classic semifinals on Thursday.

An Israeli court has sentenced a Palestinian man to 18 years in prison for stabbing a British student to death.