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Australia opted Tuesday against playing a second spinner in the final Test against Pakistan at the Sydney Cricket Ground, naming an unchanged line-up for David Warner's farewell match.

Deep under the Red Sea, a passing Israeli warship could barely be heard as Yamit Avital held her breath and dived, her mind briefly cleared of the trauma of the October 7 Hamas attacks.

Denmark's popular Australian-born Crown Princess Mary will become queen on January 14 when her husband Crown Prince Frederik accedes to the throne after his mother's abdication, capping her real-life fairytale.

Record numbers of migrants crossing the hostile Darien gap jungle in 2023 included 120,000 minors, the Panama government said Monday.

A Chinese exchange student who fell victim to a "cyber kidnapping" scam in which his parents were extorted for $80,000, was found alive but "cold and scared" in a tent in the Utah wilderness, police said.

At least six people died in a major earthquake that struck central Japan on New Year's Day, triggering tsunami waves over a metre high, damaging homes and sparking a major fire that wreaked destruction overnight, authorities said Tuesday.

Mohamed Salah credited a half-time change of boots after scoring twice to send Liverpool three points clear at the top of the Premier League with a 4-2 win over Newcastle.

Women's ice hockey kicked off the new year with the launch of a new professional league, which debuted Monday with the very first match between the Toronto and New York teams.

Mohamed Salah scored twice as Liverpool stretched Newcastle's miserable run with a 4-2 victory at Anfield to open up a three-point lead at the top of the Premier League on Monday.

Two weeks ahead of Palestine's opening game at the 2023 Asian Cup in Qatar, the team is struggling to focus as war rages on in Gaza, where thousands have been killed.

At least four people have been confirmed dead after a major earthquake struck central Japan on Monday, triggering tsunami waves over a metre high, damaging homes and sparking a major blaze.

Fourteen Nicaraguan priests have now been arrested in a crackdown on the Catholic Church in the Central American country, prompting Pope Francis to call for dialogue during his Monday prayer.

Peter Magubane, a South African photojournalist who chronicled decades of violence during the country's apartheid era including the Soweto student uprising of 1976, died Monday aged 91, his family announced.

Ethiopia on Monday struck a "historic" agreement to secure a stake in the main port in Somalia's breakaway region of Somaliland as the landlocked country eyes more access to the sea, officials said.

Chad's transitional president General Mahamat Idriss Deby Itno on Monday appointed one of his leading opponents, who recently returned from exile, as prime minister.

President Vladimir Putin said on Monday that Moscow would intensify strikes on military targets in Ukraine, after an unprecedented Ukrainian attack over the weekend on the Russian city of Belgorod.

Fireworks lit up skies across the world to welcome 2024, but airstrikes marred the year's earliest hours in Gaza, Israel and Ukraine, and a major earthquake hit Japan triggering tsunami warnings.

A long-awaited European Union's visa liberalisation scheme allowing Kosovo nationals to travel to Europe's borderless zone without a visa came into force on Monday with the first travellers hailing it as a great relief.

Brighton winger Kaoru Mitoma was named in Japan's Asian Cup squad on Monday despite an ankle injury, as coach Hajime Moriyasu looks to erase the "frustration" of their 2019 final defeat.

Nobel peace laureate Muhammad Yunus was convicted on Monday of violating Bangladesh's labour laws in a case decried by his supporters as politically motivated.

Jailed Nobel-winning microfinance pioneer Muhammad Yunus is celebrated around the world for helping millions of people out of poverty, but at home in Bangladesh he has a powerful enemy.

Tsunami waves over a metre high hit central Japan on Monday after a series of powerful earthquakes that damaged homes, closed highways and prompted authorities to urge people to run to higher ground.

Israel warned its war against Hamas will continue throughout 2024 as unrelenting strikes killed two dozen people in Gaza and the Palestinian militant group fired a rocket barrage at the stroke of midnight.

Kenyan police said on Monday they had arrested two people in connection with the weekend stabbing to death of Ugandan athlete Benjamin Kiplagat.

An irrepressible Iga Swiatek unleashed on Spain Monday as Poland booked a 2-1 win to move into the quarter-finals of the United Cup.

A sharp Casper Ruud won his second straight singles match of the season on Monday before backing up in the mixed doubles to steer Norway past Croatia at the United Cup.

Fireworks illuminated skies over Paris, Rio and Sydney to celebrate the entry to 2024, while rockets and strikes marked the year's earliest hours in Israel, Gaza and Ukraine.

Former world number one and new mother Naomi Osaka said Monday she was proud to have won her first match back after a long break, admitting she had been "super nervous".

The war in Gaza ground into the new year on Monday, with Hamas firing a barrage of rockets at Israel just as the clock struck midnight and two dozen people killed overnight in Israeli strikes on the Palestinian territory.

President Volodymyr Zelensky vowed to wreak "wrath" against Russian forces in 2024, hours before Ukraine saw attacks on the first day of the year.

Former world number one and new mother Naomi Osaka won her first match back after a long break Monday with a hard-fought victory over Germany's Tamara Korpatsch at the Brisbane International.

Taiwanese President Tsai Ing-wen expressed hopes on Monday for Taipei and Beijing to seek "long-term peaceful coexistence" and said future relations should be decided by Taiwan's "democratic procedures".