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

Italian luxury carmaker Ferrari raised its financial targets for the year Thursday to eye sales of 5.9 billion euros ($6.3 billion) after another "record quarter".

Stock markets and oil prices jumped while the dollar slid Thursday after the Federal Reserve hinted it was at an end of its rate-tightening cycle as inflation retreats.

Authorities in Pakistan ordered schoolchildren in the smog-smothered city of Lahore to wear masks during lessons starting Thursday, an effort to protect against hazardous levels of polluted air.

The hardy athletes of the annual Dutch "headwind cycle championships" race have finally met their match, as organisers said Storm Ciaran's gale-force winds was too much even for their pedal power.

Treasury Secretary Janet Yellen was set Thursday to lay out the case for deeper economic ties with the Asia-Pacific region, ahead of an expected summit between the US and Chinese presidents.

Virat Kohli missed out on equalling Sachin Tendulkar's all-time record of 49 one-day international hundreds but still helped India to an imposing 357-8 against Sri Lanka as the unbeaten World Cup hosts put one foot in the semi-finals on Thursday.

Erik ten Hag insisted he will fight to save Manchester United's troubled season after their dismal League Cup exit against Newcastle piled increased pressure on the beleaguered boss.

The Bank of England on Thursday held its key interest rate at 5.25 percent, a day after the Federal Reserve also froze borrowing costs as global inflation retreats.

French island group Mayotte will begin distributing bottled water to its 310,000 inhabitants this month as the region faces its worst drought episode this century, the government said Thursday.

Netherlands all-rounder Colin Ackermann on Thursday played down the threat posed by Afghanistan's spin kings as both sides push for a World Cup semi-final place.

Iranian prison authorities have blocked 2023 Nobel Peace Prize winner Narges Mohammadi's hospital transfer for urgently needed care over her refusal to wear the compulsory hijab, her family has said.

Virat Kohli made 88 in a World Cup match against Sri Lanka on Thursday to leave him still one century shy of equalling fellow India great Sachin Tendulkar's all-time record of 49 one-day international hundreds.

Climate change poses a health threat through increasing weather disasters and extreme heat, the UN said Thursday, calling for better warning systems that could be weaved into public health policy.

Hundreds more foreigners and dual nationals fled war-torn Gaza for Egypt on Thursday as Israeli forces kept bombing the besieged Palestinian territory where thousands have died.

Stock markets and oil prices jumped while the dollar slid Thursday after the Federal Reserve hinted it was at an end of its rate-tightening cycle as inflation retreats.

The World Cup-winning Springboks began a four-day homecoming tour in Pretoria on Thursday, with President Cyril Ramaphosa hailing the team for uniting a country with a divisive past.

UK Prime Minister Rishi Sunak on Thursday hosts political and tech leaders at the inaugural global AI safety summit, predicting the technology will radically alter society for generations to come.

Danish drugmaker Novo Nordisk reported Thursday a sharp rise in third quarter sales and profits driven by the success of its anti-diabetes and anti-obesity treatments Ozempic and Wegovy.

Australian police charged a woman with murder Thursday over a mushroom meal that left three people dead and a local preacher fighting for his life.

International funding for climate resilience in developing countries slumped in 2021 despite increasingly ferocious impacts, the United Nations said Thursday, as Secretary-General Antonio Guterres warned action was "stalling" even as the need to protect people increases.

China's Communist Party leaders publicly honoured former premier Li Keqiang on Thursday as he was laid to rest, but censors scrubbed praise of the reform-minded bureaucrat once seen as a rival to Xi Jinping to become president.

More than 165,000 Afghans have fled Pakistan in the month since its government ordered 1.7 million people to leave or face arrest and deportation, officials said Thursday.

When he was barely a teenager, Kenyan goatherder Lisoka Lesasuyan lost both arms to an unexploded bomb while crossing a field used in joint military exercises with the British army.

From Angola to Hong Kong, North Korea is rapidly shuttering its overseas embassies, as Pyongyang's economy sputters and Kim Jong Un embraces 'new Cold War' diplomacy with Russia, experts say.

Australia can deliver the final blow to old enemy England's dismal World Cup campaign on Saturday with memories of their acrimonious Ashes series still fresh.

Hundreds more wounded and foreign passport holders hoped to escape the war-torn Gaza Strip on Thursday as Israeli forces bombed and fought intense ground battles with Hamas militants in the besieged Palestinian territory.

Storm Ciaran battered northern France with record winds of nearly 200 km per hour killing a lorry driver as southern England remained on high alert Thursday and rail operators in several countries warned of traffic disruptions.

Hundreds more wounded and foreign passports holders hoped to escape war-torn Gaza on Thursday as Israeli forces bombed and fought intense ground battles with Hamas militants in the besieged Palestinian territory.

Sri Lanka captain Kusal Mendis won the toss and elected to field in Thursday's World Cup match against unbeaten hosts India who can seal a semi-final place with victory.

British energy giant Shell on Thursday said net profit rose 4.5 percent to $7 billion in the third quarter from a year earlier, as it benefits from high oil prices.

The World Cup-winning Springboks on Thursday began a four-day homecoming tour in Pretoria, with President Cyril Ramaphosa hailing the team for uniting a country with a divisive past.

More than 165,000 Afghans have fled Pakistan in the month since Islamabad issued an ultimatum to 1.7 million people to leave or face arrest and deportation, officials said Thursday.