The National Times - News around the clock from Sydney, Australia and around the world

The rebels who ousted president Bashar al-Assad and are now in power in Syria appointed a transitional head of government Tuesday to run the country until March 1, a statement said.

Labourers digging a ditch to lay gas pipes in Athens uncovered an ancient marble statue and Roman-era archeological objects, the culture ministry said on Tuesday.

South Korea's former defence minister has been formally arrested on insurrection charges related to President Yoon Suk Yeol's brief declaration of martial law, which plunged the country into chaos, a court spokesperson said early Wednesday.

Israel's Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu on Tuesday dismissed the allegations against him as he testified in court for the first time in his corruption case.

Boeing has resumed production on the 737 MAX after a nearly three-month stoppage due to a lengthy labor strike in the Seattle region.

Japan's atomic bomb survivors' group Nihon Hidankyo accepted its Nobel Peace Prize on Tuesday, pleading for the abolition of nuclear weapons that are resurging as a threat 80 years after the Hiroshima and Nagasaki bombings.

Germany's Chancellor Olaf Scholz called Tuesday for a European subsidy programme for electric vehicles, as the country's flagship auto industry struggles with the transition to battery-powered cars.

Tadej Pogacar insisted on Tuesday he would not ease off after a record-breaking 2024, declaring he was hungry for more success with a plethora of one-day classics and two Grand Tours on the 2025 menu.

Tottenham defender Cristian Romero has said the club's board are the "true responsible ones" for a lack of progress after a run of one win in seven games.

An Argentine court on Tuesday dismissed rape charges against two French international rugby players accused of assaulting a woman after playing a match in the country in July.

Global stock markets were mixed Tuesday as traders eyed looming US inflation data and a key European interest rate call amid global political upheaval.

Syrians lived in terror for decades of what went on behind the concrete walls of Damascus's security compound. Now the Assad dynasty has been toppled, its dungeons and torture chambers are giving up their secrets.

US President Joe Biden's administration finalized nearly $6.2 billion in funding for Micron Technology on Tuesday, firming up a deal to boost domestic semiconductor production before Donald Trump returns to the White House.

Tadej Pogacar will race a number of classics and the Tour de France as well as either the Giro d'Italia or Vuelta in 2025, Team UAE sporting director Joxean Fernandez Matxin said on Tuesday.

The rebels who ousted president Bashar al-Assad and are now in power in Syria appointed a transitional head of government Tuesday to run the country until March 1, a statement said.

Brazilian President Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva was in "stable" condition after emergency surgery for an "intracranial hemorrhage" and should leave hospital next week, his doctors said Tuesday.

UK government departments must find efficiency savings of five percent, finance minister Rachel Reeves insisted Tuesday, vowing to take an "iron fist" to public-spending waste.

Japan's atomic bomb survivors' group Nihon Hidankyo accepted its Nobel Peace Prize on Tuesday, urging countries to abolish the weapons resurging as a threat 80 years after the Hiroshima and Nagasaki bombings.

FIFA will confirm the hosts of the 2030 and 2034 World Cups on Wednesday, with a joint bid led by Morocco, Spain and Portugal set to be awarded the former, and the latter being handed to Saudi Arabia.

Air passenger numbers are forecast to top five billion for the first time next year and the sector's revenues will break the trillion-dollar barrier, the global aviation body IATA said on Tuesday.

Edoardo Bove has had a defibrillator fitted after the Fiorentina midfielder's on-pitch cardiac arrest earlier this month, according to widespread Italian media reports on Tuesday.

Borussia Dortmund coach Nuri Sahin on Tuesday lamented how the crowded fixture list has put an "almost unbearable" strain on players as his injury-hit side prepare to host Barcelona midweek.

European stock markets dropped Tuesday after Seoul rebounded as traders focused on political upheaval in France and South Korea in addition to China's latest stimulus plans.

Brazil's 79-year-old President Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva underwent surgery for a brain hemorrhage related to a recent fall, hospital officials said Tuesday.

The UN special envoy for Syria called Tuesday on Israel to halt its military movements and bombardments in Syria, after a war monitor reported 300 air strikes since the fall of president Bashar al-Assad.

China's "coercive behaviour" threatens regional stability, US Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin said Tuesday, after Taiwan said Beijing was carrying out its biggest maritime mobilisation around the self-ruled island in years.

Car giant Stellantis and Chinese manufacturer CATL said Tuesday they would build a $4.3-billion factory to make electric vehicle batteries in Spain, the latest bid to boost Europe's troubled EV drive.

Award-winning US poet Nikki Giovanni, who was at the forefront of the Black Arts Movement, died aged 81 after a long battle with cancer, local media reported Tuesday.

Fine particle air pollution killed nearly 240,000 people in the European Union in 2022, a five percent fall on the previous year, the European Environment Agency said in a report published Tuesday.

Israel's Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu arrived in court in Tel Aviv on Tuesday to testify for the first time in his corruption case.

Taiwan accused China on Tuesday of holding its biggest maritime mobilisation around the island in years, though Beijing has stayed tight-lipped over its latest show of force.

A war monitor said on Tuesday that Israel had conducted 300 strikes on Syria since the fall of president Bashar al-Assad, adding that the raids had "destroyed the most important military sites" in the country.