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

Spain crushed Switzerland 5-1 to reach the Women's World Cup quarter-finals for the first time in their history on Saturday, with Japan and Norway doing battle to join them.

Eddie Jones remains "one hundred percent" confident the Wallabies can win the Rugby World Cup despite suffering a fourth straight defeat in his return to the head coaching role.

All Blacks coach Ian Foster said their fightback to beat the Wallabies 23-20 in Dunedin on Saturday was "ugly" but showed they're on track to challenge for the Rugby World Cup.

Sweden coach Peter Gerhardsson said that history will mean nothing when they face the United States in the Women's World Cup last 16 on Sunday, confident his team can dethrone the title-holders.

Aitana Bonmati played a starring role with a brace and two assists as Spain crushed Switzerland 5-1 at Eden Park on Saturday to march into the quarter-finals of the Women's World Cup for the first time in their history.

Singapore's first and only-ever Olympic champion Joseph Schooling will not be competing at the Asian Games in Hangzhou next month, the swimmer said on Saturday.

Coach Desiree Ellis says that "nothing can stand in the way" of her South Africa team ahead of their last-16 clash on Sunday with the Netherlands.

A Russian tanker was damaged in a Ukrainian drone attack in the Kerch Strait, briefly halting traffic on the strategic bridge linking Crimea to Russia on Saturday, a day after one of Moscow's warships was hit in the Black Sea.

When Maria's nephew had a car accident last month, the family had to wait around 40 minutes for the only operating ambulance on the Greek island of Kos to pick him up.

Inhabitants of Belgium's cobblestone-and-canal city of Bruges are clear: summertime tourism has hit capacity.

When South Africa's historic run at the Women's World Cup finally comes to an end, the first thing Thembi Kgatlana will do back home is visit three graves.

Thousands of raucous Chinese basketball fans pack tightly into a floodlit stadium filled with swirling fog, eager to spur on the teams battling in the tournament final.

As a teenager Grandmaster Flash began pioneering the turntable-as-instrument, playing the now iconic Bronx block parties that gave birth to hip-hop and revolutionized music.

Germany coach Martina Voss-Tecklenburg said Saturday she has no intention of quitting despite their shock early exit from the Women's World Cup and denied reports of a rift with her squad.

Top-seeded Taylor Fritz battled past three-time Grand Slam champion Andy Murray 6-7 (2/7), 6-3, 6-4 then returned to breeze past Jordan Thompson and reach the semi-finals of the rain-hit Washington Open on Friday.

American and British scouts pulled out of the World Scout Jamboree in South Korea Saturday citing scorching temperatures, as organisers weighed whether to cut short an event also reportedly plagued by dire campsite conditions.

A court in Texas on Friday issued a temporary order siding with a group of women and doctors who brought a lawsuit challenging the state's abortion bans.

Pope Francis will make a lightning visit to the shrine of Fatima in central Portugal on Saturday as part of a major Catholic youth festival.

Saudi Arabia was set to host talks on the Ukraine war on Saturday in the latest flexing of its diplomatic muscle, though expectations are mild for what the gathering might achieve.

Coach Andries Jonker has warned his Netherlands team to expect a South Africa side that gives their "heart and soul" when they meet in the Women's World Cup last 16 on Sunday.

Former president Donald Trump appeared before ardent supporters in the deeply conservative southern state of Alabama on Friday, dismissing the latest federal indictment against him a day earlier as an "illegal and unconstitutional travesty."

For years, Margaret Klein Salamon labored behind the scenes to try to convince politicians about the existential threat posed by climate change.

Brazilian President Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva will host a regional summit next week with planetary stakes, as leaders of the countries that share the Amazon seek a roadmap to save the world's biggest rainforest.

West Africa's regional bloc said Friday its military chiefs have agreed a plan for a possible intervention in Niger, after the junta failed to restore civilian rule there following last week's coup.

A New York gathering called by a popular online influencer drew an unexpectedly large crowd on Friday and degenerated into violence that left people injured, prompting a massive police turnout, authorities said.

The United States is suspending some aid programs to the Niger government, Secretary of State Antony Blinken said Friday, more than one week after the country's president was toppled in a coup.

Mark Margolis, who played the sinister, wheelchair-bound cartel don Hector Salamanca in acclaimed TV shows "Breaking Bad" and "Better Call Saul," has died aged 83, his family said Friday.

Top-seeded Taylor Fritz outlasted three-time Grand Slam champion Andy Murray 6-7 (2/7), 6-3, 6-4 and faced a quarter-final later on Friday at the rain-hit Washington Open.

West Africa's regional bloc said on Friday its military chiefs had agreed a plan for a possible intervention in Niger, after it failed to restore civilian rule there following last week's coup.

Top-seeded Taylor Fritz outlasted three-time Grand Slam champion Andy Murray 6-7 (2/7), 6-3, 6-4 and faced a quarter-final later on Friday at the rain-hit Washington Open.

Southampton kicked off their bid for an immediate return to the Premier League with a 2-1 win at Sheffield Wednesday in the opening game of the "toughest ever" Championship season on Friday.

Four-time Olympic gold medal gymnast Simone Biles geared up for her highly anticipated return to competition with an impressive practice session ahead of Saturday's US Classic -- her first event since the Tokyo Olympics.