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

Music icon Paul McCartney has become the UK's first billionaire musician, according to the Sunday Times Rich List published Friday, despite the country recording its largest fall in the billionaire count in the guide's 36-year history.

The sharp drop in prices for minerals critical to the green energy transition is masking a looming shortage due to inadequate investment, the International Energy Agency said Friday.

Tyson Fury and Oleksandr Usyk will face off in a historic clash billed as the fight of a generation on Saturday with the first undisputed heavyweight bout in 25 years.

Wellington Hurricanes regained top spot in the Super Rugby table with a hard-fought 32-24 home win over Moana Pasifika on Friday.

Lured by the promise of a Pacific paradise, hundreds of visitors to France's island territory of New Caledonia have found themselves trapped in a land teeming with troops trying to put down riots.

Thiago Alcantara and Joel Matip will leave Liverpool when their contracts expire at the end of the season, the Premier League club announced on Friday.

Israel lashed out Friday at South Africa's case before the UN's top court, describing it as "totally divorced" from reality, as Pretoria urges judges to order a ceasefire in Gaza.

Fighting raged Friday in Gaza after Israel vowed to intensify its ground offensive in Rafah despite international concerns for the hundreds of thousands of displaced Palestinians in the southern city.

Hong Kong and Shanghai stocks rallied Friday after China unveiled its most wide-ranging measures to support the country's battered property sector, sending real estate firms soaring.

The sharp drop in prices for minerals critical to the green energy transition is masking a looming shortage due to inadequate investment, the International Energy Agency said Friday.

Israel lashed out Friday at South Africa's case before the UN's top court, describing it as "totally divorced" from reality, as Pretoria urges judges to order a ceasefire in Gaza.

Liverpool defender Joel Matip will leave Anfield when his contract expires at the end of the season, the Premier League club announced on Friday.

The social network formerly known as Twitter has fully migrated over to X.com, owner Elon Musk said on Friday.

Jose Gomes hopes to become the first Portuguese coach to win the CAF Confederation Cup when his Zamalek team host Moroccan outfit Renaissance Berkane in Cairo on Sunday.

Boeing's annual meeting on Friday comes amid an exceptionally difficult period for the crisis-ridden company, creating potential for drama at an event that is usually a snooze-fest.

Hong Kong and Shanghai stocks rallied Friday after China unveiled its most wide-ranging measures to support the country's battered property sector, sending real estate firms soaring.

Francis Ford Coppola faces the press Friday after his epic "Megalopolis" sharply divided critics at the Cannes Film Festival, while Emma Stone and Richard Gere are set to light up the red carpet.

China cut the minimum down payment rate for first-time homebuyers on Friday and suggested the government could buy up commercial real estate, in some of Beijing's most ambitious moves yet to lift the ailing housing market out of an unprecedented debt crisis.

The US military said aid deliveries began Friday via a temporary pier in Gaza aimed at ramping up emergency humanitarian assistance to the war-ravaged Palestinian territory.

After being knocked back at some 50 interviews for consulting jobs in France despite his ample qualifications, Muslim business school graduate Adam packed his bags and moved to a new life in Dubai.

China cut the minimum down payment rate for first-time homebuyers on Friday and suggested the government could buy up commercial real estate in a bid to boost the country's ailing housing market, currently battling an unprecedented debt crisis.

This year's Cannes Film Festival hosts a trio of heartthrobs from the back end of the 20th century, making their comeback on the red carpet: Demi Moore, Kevin Costner and Richard Gere.

Brazil was chosen to host the 2027 Women's World Cup on Friday, beating a joint Belgium-Netherlands-Germany bid at a FIFA congress marked by debate about the war in Gaza.

The war in Gaza came to the fore at world football's biggest meeting on Friday as the Palestinian association called for Israel to be immediately suspended from FIFA.

Boeing's annual meeting on Friday comes amid an exceptionally difficult period for the crisis-ridden company, creating potential for drama at an event that is usually a snooze-fest.

One of the latest events in Europe to be hit with accusations of anti-Semitism, the Vienna Festival kicks off Friday, with its new director, Milo Rau, urging that places of culture be kept free of the "antagonism" of the Israel-Hamas war while still tackling difficult issues.

A top Chinese economic official said Friday the state could buy up commercial real estate in a bid to boost the country's ailing housing market, currently battling an unprecedented debt crisis.

Japan's Rapidus project that brings together some of the world's biggest companies is the "last opportunity" to put the country's once-dominant semiconductor sector back on the global map, its chairman warned.

Despite Western calls on China to cut its support for Moscow's war against Ukraine by limiting supplies of dual-use materials and weapons components to Russia, Beijing has no interest in dropping its backing for President Vladimir Putin, analysts say.

The last piece of privately owned land in the strategic Svalbard archipelago in the Arctic is up for grabs, a property likely to entice China but which Norway does not intend to let go without a fight.

Hundreds of military and armed police reinforcements deployed Friday to the riot-scarred streets of France's Pacific territory of New Caledonia, seeking to quell clashes that have left five people dead and hundreds injured.

Defending two-time Champions Cup winners La Rochelle face a challenging run-in to the end of the Top 14 season as they look to make the play-offs and avoid a trophy-less year, starting against Pau on Saturday.