Lionel Messi hit a hat-trick as Barcelona began their Champions League campaign with a 4-0 win over Ajax on Wednesday but Jose Mourinho’s Chelsea suffered a shock home defeat.

A revamped Tottenham Hotspur will headline the Premier League’s quest for Europa League success when the group stage begins on Thursday.

Defending European champions Bayern Munich cruised to a 3-0 victory over CSKA Moscow on Tuesday as fellow European giants Manchester United and Real Madrid went goal crazy.

Finnish Formula One driver Kimi Raikkonen will rejoin the Ferrari stable on a two year contract for the 2014 season, the team announced on Wednesday.

Russia said Wednesday it had given the United States a plan to put Syria’s chemical weapons under international control, raising hopes of a diplomatic solution to the crisis.

“Thy broken faith hath made the prey for worms,” evil Richard III is told by an accuser in Shakespeare’s drama.

A large asteroid has been named after Alejandro Jodorowsky, the cult Franco-Chilean filmmaker and science-fiction comics writer who later became a spiritual guru.

Newly promoted Monaco went top of Ligue 1 after coming from behind to defeat Marseille 2-1 in a thrilling encounter at the Velodrome on Sunday.

The humble tuk-tuk, a fixture in Asian cities from Bangkok to Bengaluru, is rapidly becoming a common sight in the touristy parts of Paris — and the bane of traffic police.

Life on Earth was kick-started thanks to a key mineral deposited by a meteorite from Mars, according to a novel theory aired on Thursday.