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

Ruben Amorim is expected to be confirmed as Manchester United's new manager on Thursday after the club reached an agreement with Sporting Lisbon, reports said.

Super Typhoon Kong-rey made landfall in Taiwan on Thursday as one of the biggest storms to hit the island in decades, whipping up 10-metre waves, triggering floods and claiming at least one life.

Hong Kong's economic growth in the third quarter missed analyst estimates as private consumption weakened, according to government figures released Thursday.

Bangladesh were 43-4 and staring at a likely innings defeat against South Africa on Thursday with a 373-run deficit at day three tea of the second Test in Chattogram.

Japan's Mount Fuji, snowless for the longest since records began 130 years ago, is expected to finally get its famous white cap back next week, a local forecaster said on Thursday.

Lee Sang-hyeok wanted only to be a "normal kid". He was anything but, and is now a multi-millionaire eSports superstar known worldwide simply as Faker.

Bangladesh were all out for 159 Thursday in their first innings of the second Test and will have to bat again 416 runs behind after South Africa enforced the follow-on in Chattogram.

Fans celebrated wildly in Tokyo Thursday as baseball superstar Shohei Ohtani made their "dreams and hopes come true" by becoming a World Series winner.

Human traffickers left dozens of Rohingya refugees, including children, stranded on a shoreline in westernmost Indonesia on Thursday, while six dead bodies were found nearby, local officials said.

Asian stocks were mostly down on Thursday following a weak lead from Wall Street, though better-than-expected manufacturing data from China provided a glimmer of good news for Beijing.

The banks of the Rio Grande river separating Mexico and the United States look almost deserted, and formerly overcrowded migrant shelters are half empty -- a consequence of tougher US immigration policies in an election year.

Seven-time snooker world champion Ronnie O'Sullivan has been granted residency in Hong Kong, with the star lavishing praise on the Chinese city in a government promotional video released Thursday.

Before the strike on his neighbourhood in eastern Ukraine, Volodymyr had planned to brave what promises to be the worst winter of the war yet with just a heavy blanket and two electric heaters.

Once it was Europe's North Korea, a cloistered communist dictatorship. But now Albania lures millions of tourists a year, with a growing portion coming in search of a radiant smile, luscious lips or better breasts.

South Africa fast bowler Kagiso Rabada wreaked havoc on the Bangladesh batting line-up Thursday, reducing them to 48-8 before a mini-fightback to 137-8 at lunch on the third day of the second Test.

Andrea Iannone will return to MotoGP for the first time since a four-year doping ban when he races for the Valentino Rossi-owned Ducati-VR46 team this weekend in Malaysia.

When two false bomb alerts targeted an LGBTQ festival in Chisinau this month, organiser Angelica Frolov was left scrambling to find an alternative venue at the last minute.

Super Typhoon Kong-rey made landfall in Taiwan on Thursday as one of the most powerful storms to hit the island in years, whipping up 10-metre waves and forcing thousands of people to flee their homes.

An elevator rattles down about a kilometre (3,000 feet) below ground in five minutes to reach Germany's nuclear necropolis, a future repository set to to entomb much of its radioactive waste.

Facing a results vacuum that could grind on for weeks, US TV networks are preparing to fill the airwaves against a backdrop of unprecedented pressure to avoid mistakes and a torrent of disinformation.

The Bank of Japan warned Thursday of "high uncertainties" following the ruling party's worst election result in 15 years, as it kept interest rates unchanged.

Freddie Freeman, the 2024 World Series Most Valuable Player after a historic performance in the Los Angeles Dodgers' five-game triumph over the New York Yankees, said he was still trying to assimilate his accomplishments.

An Australian rising golf star who made his US PGA Tour debut last month vowed Thursday to play on despite losing sight in one eye after a freak on-course accident.

South Korea's Samsung Electronics said Thursday that its operating profits soared 277 percent on-year to $6.6 billion but missed expectations as it struggled to leverage demand for chips used in artificial intelligence servers.

Shohei Ohtani said he was "honored" to have sealed his first World Series title after the Los Angeles Dodgers victory over the New York Yankees in the Fall Classic on Wednesday.

New York Yankees manager Aaron Boone said Wednesday the error-strewn manner of the defeat that saw the Los Angeles Dodgers complete a World Series victory over his team would "sting forever."

Commonwealth countries want talks on slavery reparations but the United Kingdom -- engaged in soul-searching over its former empire for several years now -- is not open to financial compensation, officials and analysts say.

German President Frank-Walter Steinmeier will on Thursday visit the Greek village of Kandanos in Crete, site of one the worst atrocities committed by Nazi occupation forces during World War II.

The Los Angeles Dodgers produced a stunning fightback to defeat the New York Yankees and clinch the World Series on Wednesday with a dramatic come-from-behind 7-6 victory.

Asian stocks got off to an uneven start on Thursday following a weak lead from Wall Street, though better-than-expected manufacturing data from China provided a glimmer of good news for Beijing.

The Los Angeles Dodgers punished a string of defensive blunders from the New York Yankees to win the World Series on Wednesday with a stunning come-from-behind 7-6 victory.

Papua New Guinea on Thursday declared a boycott of next month's UN climate summit, branding the global warming negotiations a "waste of time" full of empty promises from big polluters.