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

Inter Miami's Lionel Messi pleased Tokyo fans on Wednesday in a friendly match that ended in a 4-3 penalty shootout loss to Vissel Kobe after the game ended goalless.

Thousands of farmers used tractors to block roads across Spain for the second straight day Wednesday amid Europe-wide protests against cheaper imports and heavy regulation.

Italian Enea Bastianini shattered the MotoGP unofficial lap record at the Sepang Circuit during a dramatic second day pre-season test on Wednesday just hours after day one fastest rider Jorge Martin achieved it.

US athletes will take part in the opening ceremony of the Paris Olympics on the river Seine, with the American Olympics team "excited" and also confident in French security, a top US official said.

Azerbaijanis voted in a snap presidential election on Wednesday, with a fifth term for Ilham Aliyev seen as a foregone conclusion after his country's landmark victory over Armenian separatists.

Supporters of Imran Khan say they will take evasive measures to cast votes backing the jailed politician in Pakistan's Thursday election, after a major crackdown against his party.

European stock markets dropped on Wednesday as traders reacted to more mixed earnings and weak German data, while Shanghai extended a rally on measures aimed at supporting China's ailing economy.

Two firms, Singapore-based Trafigura and Canada's Ivanhoe Mines, signed a major deal on Wednesday to export copper along a US-backed rail route from the Democratic Republic of Congo.

The vote to delay Senegal's presidential election until December "cannot be considered legitimate", the US state department said, after the move plunged the normally stable West African nation into its worst crisis in decades.

Salah Abdeslam, sentenced to life in jail over Paris jihadist attacks in 2015, was transferred Wednesday from Belgium back to France, his lawyer said.

Rui Pinto, the Portuguese whistleblower behind the "Football Leaks" revelations, has turned his hard disks over to French and European investigators even as he fears his life is "totally stuck".

At least 24 people were killed Wednesday by two separate bomb blasts outside the offices of election candidates in southwestern Pakistan, on the eve of a national vote marred by violence and allegations of poll rigging.

A Swedish prosecutor probing the 2022 sabotage of the Nord Stream gas pipelines linking Russia and Germany said Wednesday he was closing the investigation because Sweden does not have jurisdiction.

Russia fired dozens of missiles and drones at Ukraine on Wednesday in a "massive" early morning attack that killed at least five people and injured more than 30, officials in Kyiv said.

At least seven people were killed and 31 injured when a rain-induced landslide hit a gold-mining village in a mountainous region of the southern Philippines, officials said Wednesday.

The strategically-placed Indian Ocean nation of the Maldives, which has borrowed heavily from China and shifted allegiance from India, is at high risk of "debt distress," the IMF warned Wednesday.

US Secretary of State Antony Blinken met Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu in Jerusalem on Wednesday to push for a ceasefire as the Gaza war enters its fifth month.

At least 22 people were killed Wednesday in two separate bomb blasts outside the offices of election candidates in southwestern Pakistan, on the eve of a national vote marred by violence and allegations of poll-rigging.

French actor Judith Godreche has pressed charges against film director Benoit Jacquot 25 years her senior, accusing him of raping her when she was a teenager, her lawyer said Wednesday.

Jordan coach Hussein Ammouta hopes their surprise run to the Asian Cup final will spark broader development in the country's football and propel Jordanian players into the Premier League.

Russia fired dozens of missiles and drones at Ukraine on Wednesday in a "massive" early morning attack that killed at least four and injured more than a dozen, officials in Kyiv said.

At least 22 people were killed Wednesday in two separate bomb blasts outside poll candidate offices in southwestern Pakistan, officials said, on the eve of an election marred by violence and allegations of poll-rigging.

Jurgen Klinsmann's position as South Korea coach came under intense pressure on Wednesday after what local media called a "shameful" and "humiliating" Asian Cup semi-final defeat to Jordan.

Azerbaijani strongman Ilham Aliyev, who will likely sail to a fifth presidential term in Wednesday's election, is cementing his hardline rule after securing a historic victory over Armenian separatists.

At least 12 people were killed and 25 wounded Wednesday by a blast outside a poll candidate's office in southwestern Pakistan, officials said, on the eve of an election marred by violence and allegations of poll-rigging.

French group TotalEnergies reported on Wednesday the highest profit of its history for 2023, underpinned by performances in its liquefied natural gas and electricity divisions.

At least six people were killed and 31 injured when a rain-induced landslide hit a gold-mining village in a mountainous region of the southern Philippines, officials said Wednesday.

French group TotalEnergies reported on Wednesday the highest profit of its history for 2023, underpinned by performances in its liquefied natural gas and electricity divisions.

Shanghai stocks extended their rally Wednesday on hopes for more Chinese measures in support of battered markets, while traders in most other parts of Asia tracked Wall Street advances fuelled by strong earnings.

A small hamlet in the west of Denmark is facing an unusual existential threat: a landslide of contaminated waste that is bearing down on the community and a nearby river.

Black Caps seamer Kyle Jamieson claimed four wickets on Wednesday to drive New Zealand to a 281-run win over South Africa with a day to spare in the first Test.

Chris Pappas doesn't look like a typical politician in South Africa's key electoral battleground, the populous province of KwaZulu-Natal.