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

One year after world leaders issued the landmark call for a global move away from fossil fuels, nations are failing to turn that promise into action, say climate diplomats, campaigners and policy experts.

"I'm holding an illustrated book of cheeses," says a delighted Tomoyo Ozumi, a customer at a growing kind of bookshop in Japan where anyone wanting to sell their tomes can rent a shelf.

Devout Filipinos clutching candles and flowers poured into cemeteries across the heavily Catholic Philippines on Friday to pay tribute to loved ones on All Saints' Day.

Cyclists using a mobile phone while riding in Japan could face up to six months in jail under strict new rules that entered into force Friday.

The world's biggest nature conservation conference enters its final day in Colombia Friday with negotiators at odds over how best to fund plans to "halt and reverse" species loss.

New York's Halloween parade brought out the ghouls and ghosts of the Big Apple on Thursday, with a subversive political theme on show in many costumes days before America picks its next president.

North Korea's latest weapons test "perfected" its newest and most advanced solid-fuel intercontinental ballistic missile, state media said Friday, as global criticism mounts over Pyongyang's purported deployment of troops to Russia.

England and New Zealand head into Saturday's clash at Twickenham with both sides having an added incentive for victory.

Who starts at fly-half and scrum-half will command most attention when world champions South Africa launch a three-Test tour of Britain on November 10 against Scotland in Edinburgh.

Rapper Young Thug was released from jail Thursday after pleading guilty to involvement in a criminal gang as well as drug and firearms charges, an abrupt twist to the longest trial in the history of the southern US state of Georgia.

Manchester United face Chelsea on Sunday with interim manager Ruud van Nistelrooy at the helm while faltering Arsenal face a potentially tricky trip to Newcastle.

Workers cleared fallen trees and shop owners swept up debris in Taiwan on Friday after one of the biggest typhoons to hit the island in decades claimed at least two lives.

Evin Lewis smashed a scintillating 94 as West Indies routed England by eight wickets in a rain-hit one-day international on Thursday.

Khadir Ali and his family managed to survive a harrowing paramilitary attack in war-torn Sudan. But by the time they got to safety, he realised that one person was missing.

It was a threatening message to his wife that made Adam Besthoff remove all but one of his Donald Trump lawn signs ahead of an election that has fueled divisions among Americans.

Cattle farmer Khairallah Yaacoub refused to leave south Lebanon despite a year of Hezbollah-Israel clashes. When full-scale war erupted, he and four others were stranded in their ruined border village.

Dozens of Facebook groups bill themselves as Kamala Harris fan pages but mount racist attacks, criticize her record on immigration and promote her rival Donald Trump, in what disinformation researchers call a "bait-and-switch" tactic aimed at deceiving voters in a tight US election race.

In Pennsylvania, the biggest swing state prize in the US presidential election, renters -- whether still working or retired -- are struggling. But whether they choose Kamala Harris or Donald Trump, immediate relief is not a given.

Immigration, abortion and the eternal search for the American Dream make up the ingredients of "La Cocina," a new film that examines the United States' most divisive issues through the microcosm of a New York restaurant kitchen.

Mel Manuel never considered themself to be particularly political. But after repeated attacks from Republicans against transgender people, the former Spanish teacher is running for a seat in the US Congress.

US aviation giant Boeing has once again improved the conditions in its contract offer to thousands of striking workers, hoping to put an end to a painful strike that has paralyzed its two main factories for seven weeks.

Could the dragons of Westeros finally be coming to the big screen?

Rapper Young Thug pleaded guilty on Thursday to involvement in a criminal gang as well as drug and firearms charges, in an abrupt twist to the longest trial in the history of the southern US state of Georgia.

Apple reported revenues Thursday that narrowly surpassed analyst expectations, sending shares lower in after-hours trading even as the company enjoyed a boost from iPhone sales.

European officials pointed Thursday to deadly flooding in Spain as a reminder of the harm that comes from humans' destruction of nature, urging delegates at a deadlocked UN biodiversity conference in Colombia to "act."

At a wholesale market in the central Bolivian city of Cochabamba, farmer Damaris Masias watches through tears as 10 tonnes of tomatoes that she spent over a week trying to get through roadblocks are tossed into a bin.

Eight years after matching each other blow-for-blow in one of the highest-scoring US college games in history, Patrick Mahomes and Baker Mayfield are poised for another shoot-out as the Kansas City Chiefs face the Tampa Bay Buccaneers in NFL week nine this weekend.

World number two Carlos Alcaraz was knocked out of the Paris Masters by 18th-ranked Ugo Humbert of France who swept to a third round victory in three sets on Thursday.

Kamala Harris on Thursday slammed Donald Trump for what she called "very offensive" remarks about women, putting abortion rights back in the spotlight as her rival hurled more insults and denigrated migrants during the election's final stretch.

World number two Carlos Alcaraz was knocked out of the Paris Masters by 18th-ranked Ugo Humbert of France who swept to a third round victory in three sets on Thursday.

The UN rapporteur on environmental defenders on Thursday urged Azerbaijan to free Anar Mammadli, saying his detention seemed aimed at silencing climate advocates ahead of November's COP29 summit.

City of Troy is the early favorite to give Irish trainer Aidan O'Brien a long-sought Breeders' Cup Classic victory on Saturday, but the turf superstar must make a seamless transition to the dirt track at Del Mar to triumph in a talent-laden field.