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

Taiwan on Friday raced to remove 284 tonnes of oil from a Chinese carrier that ran aground off the island after losing power in rough seas as Typhoon Kong-rey neared.

Francesco Bagnaia went fastest in Friday practice for the potentially decisive Malaysian MotoGP, with title rival Jorge Martin pipped into second as he crashed out.

Panniers strapped to their haunches, a team of horses waded collar-deep through North Sea waters -- hauling wide nets along the Belgian coast as cawing seagulls swirl all around.

French brushmakers are shifting to luxury and niche markets to survive rising costs and redundancy, as they see their craft -— handed down through the generations -— threatened with extinction.

Gennadiy Odarenko sat in front of a microphone in a dark room in Kyiv, a spotlight shining on him as he spoke about the loss of his leg in battle.

Indonesia has banned the sale of Google Pixel phones over the tech giant's failure to meet investment regulations, its industry ministry said, days after blocking sales of Apple's iPhone 16.

The United States unveils its monthly employment figures Friday –- a final major economic snapshot at the end of a razor-edge presidential election campaign in which cost-of-living issues have dominated voter concerns.

Germans will be able to change their legal gender more easily from Friday thanks to a new law hailed as a "historic" step for the LGBTQ community.

Botswana's president conceded defeat on Friday after his ruling party, which had ruled the diamond-rich African country for nearly six decades, suffered a resounding defeat in general elections.

Antonio Conte is a hard taskmaster but the exploits of his Napoli side so far this season have him eulogising about how the "players are ready to die, in football terms, for this jersey."

At least 10 strikes hit Beirut's southern suburbs early Friday, after the Israeli army issued evacuation orders for buildings in Hezbollah's stronghold to evacuate.

India's capital New Delhi was wreathed in poisonous smog Friday, with air pollution worsening after a fireworks ban was widely flouted for raucous celebrations for the Hindu festival of lights, Diwali.

Nepal is fighting a surge in dengue cases, a potentially deadly disease once unheard of in the country's high-altitude Himalayan regions, as climate change and urbanisation nurture fever-bringing mosquitoes in new zones.

Aaron Rodgers and the New York Jets shook off their offensive doldrums and rallied for a 21-13 victory over the Houston Texans on Thursday, halting their five-game NFL losing streak.

Shohei Ohtani's World Series triumph was given blanket media coverage in his native Japan on Friday with headlines proudly proclaiming it was just the start for their national hero.

Asian markets mostly fell Friday, tracking a global slide in stocks fuelled by tame tech earnings and investor jitters less than a week before neck-and-neck US elections.

Francesco Bagnaia was easily fastest in opening practice for the potentially decisive Malaysian MotoGP at Sepang on Friday, with title rival Jorge Martin sixth.

With a showman's flair and an outlaw's moustache, the Pakistani gangster dials the hotline on his own most wanted notice -- taunting the authorities who put a bounty on his head.

Ja Morant's 12th career triple-double fired the Memphis Grizzlies to a 122-99 NBA victory over the reeling Milwaukee Bucks on Thursday as Houston edged the Dallas Mavericks.

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.