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

Saudi Arabia on Monday warned of a temperature spike in Mecca as Muslim pilgrims wrapped up the hajj in searing conditions, with more than a dozen heat-related deaths confirmed.

The trial of a group of rugby players accused of gang raping a student after a 2017 match by leading French team Grenoble was to open Monday.

Spain goalkeeper Unai Simon suggested Monday it was not French captain Kylian Mbappe's place to speak up "against extremes and divisive ideas" ahead of a general election in France.

Stock markets diverged Monday with traders assessing the Federal Reserve's plans for interest-rate cuts and Europe's political landscape before looming general elections.

China said Monday it had launched an anti-dumping investigation into pork imports from the European Union, the latest step in a mounting trade stand-off between the bloc and its largest economic partner.

The chairman of Italy's state-controlled shipbuilder Fincantieri, Claudio Graziano, a retired general who once headed the UN peacekeeping mission in Lebanon, has died aged 70, Italian Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni said Monday.

France began a frantically short election campaign Monday, with President Emmanuel Macron's centrist alliance facing an uphill struggle to avoid a new defeat at the hands of the far right.

EU member countries on Monday gave final approval to a key biodiversity measure, a bloc-wide nature restoration law, after Austria's climate minister defied her chancellor to back it.

China said Monday it had launched an anti-dumping investigation into pork imports from the European Union, the latest step in a mounting trade stand-off between the bloc and its largest economic partner.

At least eight people were killed in India on Monday when a goods train driver missed a signal and slammed into an express passenger train from behind, police and railway officials said.

Israel struck Gaza on Monday and witnesses reported blasts in the besieged territory's south, but fighting has largely subsided after a day of relative calm and as Muslims marked Eid al-Adha.

When football fanatic Othman al-Kinani became blind in 2008, the loss of his sight hit him hard, not least because he thought he'd have to hang up his boots for good.

Millions of people dependent on Himalayan snowmelt for water face a "very serious" risk of shortages this year after one of the lowest rates of snowfall, scientists warned Monday.

Jude Bellingham said his "wolf" celebration with Trent Alexander-Arnold after scoring the only goal in England’s 1-0 win over Serbia to kick off their Euro 2024 campaign was a nod to the backroom staff.

Asian markets fell Monday to extend last week's losses, with traders trying to assess the Federal Reserve's plans for interest rates, while the euro was weighed by political uncertainty as France prepared for a snap parliamentary election.

At least seven people were killed when an express passenger train and a goods train collided Monday in India's West Bengal state, derailing three passenger carriages, police said.

US journalist Evan Gershkovich will go on trial on espionage charges in Russia's Urals city of Yekaterinburg behind closed doors on June 26, the court overseeing the process said on Monday.

China hailed mended ties with Australia on Monday, saying relations were "on the right track" as the trading partners moved on from a bitter economic dispute despite a duel for influence in the Pacific.

Bangladesh qualified for the Super Eights of the T20 World Cup after a 21-run victory over Nepal on Sunday secured their place in the next round.

Nuclear-armed countries hiked spending on atomic weapons arsenals by a third in the past five years as they modernised their stockpiles amid growing geopolitical tensions, two reports showed on Monday.

An eliminated Sri Lankan team overwhelmed the Netherlands by 83 runs in the final Group D match of the T20 World Cup at the Daren Sammy Stadium in St Lucia on Sunday.

Coming-of-age musical "The Outsiders" and "Stereophonic," a play about a 1970s band putting together an album, earned top honors Sunday at the Tony Awards, the highest accolades in American theater.

Wout Weghorst was selected for the Netherlands Euro 2024 squad to offer something "different", and the striker came off the bench to grab his team an opening 2-1 win over Poland when they had run out of ideas.

Superstar Portugal striker Cristiano Ronaldo is determined to make more European Championship history this summer.

A Philippine ship and a Chinese vessel collided near the Second Thomas Shoal in the disputed South China Sea on Monday, the Chinese Coast Guard said.

Asian markets mostly fell Monday following last week's losses, with traders trying to assess the Federal Reserve's plans for interest rates, while the euro was weighed by political uncertainty as France prepares for a snap parliamentary election.

In the Libyan village of Kabaw in the Nafusa Mountains, M'hamed Maakaf waters an ailing fig tree as climate change pushes villagers to forsake lands and livestock.

In a small laboratory in Seoul, a team of South Korean scientists are injecting cultured beef cells into individual grains of rice, in a process they hope could revolutionise how the world eats.

An eliminated Sri Lankan team posted a formidable 201 for six batting first against the Netherlands in the final Group D match of the T20 World Cup at the Daren Sammy Stadium in St Lucia on Sunday.

Bryson DeChambeau, needing to get up and down from a bunker at 18 to win, delivered one of his greatest shots Sunday and sank a tension-packed putt to win the US Open.

A Philippine ship and a Chinese vessel collided near the Spratly Islands in the disputed South China Sea on Monday, Beijing's Coast Guard said.

France on Monday began less than a fortnight of frenetic election campaigning for snap polls called by President Emmanuel Macron to combat the far right, with star footballer Kylian Mbappe warning the country was at a historic crossroads.