Christian Bale broke ground Wednesday on a project he's been pursuing for 16 years -- the building of a dozen homes and a community center in Los Angeles County intended to keep siblings in foster care together.

The Oscar winner stood with a grin and a shovel full of dirt alongside local politicians and donors in the decidedly non-Hollywood city of Palmdale, 60 miles (80 kilometers) north and across the San Gabriel Mountains from Los Angeles.

Japanese automaker Honda's profit rose 3.5% in the October-December quarter from a year earlier on the back of solid demand in the U.S. and Europe and a recovery in its home market, the company said Thursday.

Tokyo-based Honda Motor Co.'s profit in the last quarter was 253.3 billion yen, or $1.7 billion. Quarterly sales jumped 21% to 5.39 trillion yen ($36 billion).

Novak Djokovic is returning to the BNP Paribas Open for the first time in five years in pursuit of a record sixth title in the Southern California desert.

The world's top-ranked male player last competed at Indian Wells in 2019, when he lost in the third round. Djokovic didn't play here the last four years because he wasn't vaccinated against COVID-19. The U.S. required noncitizen visitors to be vaccinated through last spring.

Kylian Mbappé scored his 30th goal of the season Wednesday as Paris Saint-Germain advanced to the French Cup quarterfinals with a 3-1 win over Brest that extended its unbeaten run to 15 matches.

Amid persistent rumors he will leave PSG to join Real Madrid after his contract runs out at the end of June, Mbappé has been in tremendous form this season.

Nissan's profit sank in October-December to about half of what it earned the year before, the automaker said Thursday, though it stuck to its earlier earnings forecasts.

Nissan Motor Co., based in the port city of Yokohama, reported its profit was 29 billion yen ($195 million) in the last quarter, down from 50.6 billion yen a year earlier.

After leaving fans disappointed in Hong Kong, Lionel Messi put in a 30-minute appearance in Tokyo on Wednesday in Inter Miami's latest exhibition match in Asia — although he still left some supporters wanting more.

Messi came off the bench for the final half hour, energized his teammates and probably had the best chance of the match in the 80th with two point-blank shots — the first stopped by goalkeeper Shota Aria and the second cleared off the line by the Vissel Kobe defense.

The work to tame inflation in Turkey — namely through interest rate hikes — will continue "with determination," the country's new central bank chief said Thursday, offering some certainty about efforts to right the battered economy following his predecessor's surprise resignation.

Speaking for the first time since taking the helm of the central bank on Saturday, Fatih Karahan, a former senior Goldman Sachs executive, said he expects inflation to drop considerably over this year and next.

A German Navy frigate set sail on Thursday toward the Red Sea, where Berlin plans to have it take part in a European Union mission to help defend cargo ships from attacks by Yemen's Iranian-backed Houthi rebels that are hampering trade.

The Hessen set off from the North Sea port of Wilhelmshaven with about 240 servicepeople on board. The aim is to have it in place once the EU mission is given the official go-ahead and the German parliament has approved a mandate for the ship to join in, which is expected at the end of February.

Former Pakistani Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif expressed confidence his party would win national elections on Thursday, a vote that has been marred by violence, deep political tensions and the imprisonment of a popular contender.

A day before the election, at least 30 were killed in bombings at political offices, and sporadic attacks on Thursday appeared aimed at disrupting the balloting, including one that killed five police officers in a country beset by surging militancy. The violence, political feuding and a seemingly intractable economic crisis have left many voters disillusioned and raised questions about whether a new government can bring more stability to the troubled Western ally.

Antiwar politician Boris Nadezhdin was rejected Thursday as a candidate in next month's presidential balloting by Russian election authorities, a strong signal from the Kremlin that it would tolerate no public opposition to the invasion of Ukraine.

The move by the Central Election Commission provides an even smoother path for President Vladimir Putin to win a fifth term in power. He faces only token opposition from pro-Kremlin candidates in the March 15-17 vote and is all but certain to win, given his tight control of Russia's political system.