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

Dutch rider Mathieu van der Poel won the men's road race world championship in Glasgow on Sunday with a late solo escape after a 271km run that began in Edinburgh.

Harry Kane scored four goals in Tottenham Hotspur's 5-1 pre-season friendly win at home to Shakhtar Donetsk on Sunday as speculation over the England captain's future intensified.

World number one Carlos Alcaraz is aiming to make amends as he plays an ATP Masters 1000 event in Canada for only the second time in his career.

At least 30 migrants are missing following two shipwrecks off the Italian island of Lampedusa, according to survivor testimony, as rescuers on Sunday winched to safety 34 others stranded on the rocks by rough seas.

Megan Rapinoe called it "a sick joke" after missing her penalty in the shootout in her farewell Women's World Cup as holders the United States were turfed out in the last 16 by Sweden on Sunday.

Russia carried out several waves of attacks on Ukraine overnight, while Kyiv hit bridges in occupied territories on Sunday.

Lewis Ludlam hopes he will be exposed to the "pressure" of Rugby World Cup competition again when England coach Steve Borthwick names his 33-man squad for next month's tournament in France on Monday.

Aleix Espargaro won a classic British MotoGP with a last-lap lunge to deny world champion Francesco Bagnaia at Silverstone on Sunday.

The era of US dominance in women's football is over after the holders exited the World Cup in a dramatic penalty shoot-out against Sweden on Sunday, bringing an agonising end to the international career of Megan Rapinoe and raising questions about where the side goes now.

Aleix Espargaro won the British MotoGP on the final lap from world champion Francesco Bagnaia at Silverstone on Sunday.

Stand-in Scotland captain Finn Russell is bracing himself to face a full-strength France team in next weekend's return Rugby World Cup warm-up game in Saint-Etienne.

At least 30 migrants are missing following two shipwrecks off the Italian island of Lampedusa, according to survivor testimony, as rescuers Sunday winched to safety others trapped on the rocks by rough seas.

The United States' long reign as Women's World Cup holders was brought to an end in the most dramatic fashion as they were dumped out on penalties by Sweden, who joined the Netherlands in reaching the quarter-finals on Sunday.

Five people were arrested after a protest halted the men's cycling world championships road race in Scotland on Sunday, blocking a remote country road between Edinburgh and Glasgow, police said.

Ukraine said on Sunday it suffered several waves of aerial attacks overnight, which Moscow said targeted military airfields, a day after a strike on a Russian tanker on the Kerch Strait.

Warren Gatland is confident his Wales side will be "desperate to perform" at Twickenham next weekend as competition for places in his Rugby World Cup squad heats up.

Elfyn Evans won the Rally of Finland on Sunday to narrow the gap on world champion Kalle Rovanpera in the drivers' standings.

Sweden stunned the United States 5-4 in a sudden-death penalty shootout Sunday to surge into a Women's World Cup quarter-final against Japan and consign the defending champions to their earliest-ever exit.

Moscow escalated its attacks in Ukraine on Saturday, with President Volodymyr Zelensky denouncing a deadly strike on a blood transfusion centre as a "war crime".

Pressure on the leaders of a coup in Niger mounted Sunday with the approach of the west African bloc's deadline for the military to relinquish control or face possible armed intervention.

Keira Walsh will be available for England in their last-16 Women's World Cup clash against Nigeria on Monday as long as she shows no adverse reaction to returning to training.

England coach Sarina Wiegman said Sunday she hopes there will be more woman coaches in the game in future after she became the last one remaining at the Women's World Cup.

Seoul in South Korea will host the next World Youth Day, a major Catholic youth festival, in 2027, Pope Francis said Sunday at the close of this year's event in Lisbon.

Ukraine's trident coat of arms glimmered on the shield of a gigantic statue overlooking Kyiv on Sunday, after construction workers winched it up to replace a Soviet hammer and sickle.

Pope Francis celebrated an open-air Mass before a huge crowd on Sunday at a riverside park near Lisbon to wrap up an international jamboree of Catholic youth.

Excessive pollution in Paris' Seine River forced organisers to cancel a pre-Olympics test swimming competition due to take place on Sunday, the sport's international federation said.

Former Pakistan prime minister Imran Khan's three-year sentence for graft prompted scattered rallies around the country, but there was no sign of any mass uprising Sunday despite his call for supporters to protest.

Japan have flown in under the radar to become the team to beat, along with England, at the Women's World Cup and boasting the tournament's leading scorer in Hinata Miyazawa.

Nigeria coach Randy Waldrum believes knocking European champions England out of the Women's World Cup would be "transformational" for the sport in the country as the sides prepare to meet in the last 16 on Monday.

South Africa coach Desiree Ellis appealed Sunday to the government and sponsors to step up if women's football in the country is to push on after the team's historic World Cup run.

The Netherlands secured a spot in the Women's World Cup quarter-finals by ending South Africa's historic run with a 2-0 win in Sydney on Sunday, ahead of a blockbuster last-16 showdown between holders the United States and Sweden.

Japan's prime minister hit out at Russian threats to use nuclear weapons as the country marked the 78th anniversary of the atomic bombing of Hiroshima on Sunday.