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

Kenya's record-breaking running star Faith Kipyegon confirmed on Friday she will go for a 1,500m-5,000m double at the world championships in Budapest next month.

After years of overshooting budget and debt targets, EU members need to rein in spending even as they reel under high inflation and rising interest rates, the powerful chief of the Eurogroup said Friday.

Carlos Alcaraz swept into the third round of Wimbledon on Friday, beating Frenchman Alexandre Muller 6-4, 7-6 (7/2), 6-3.

A child and a woman were in critical condition Friday after a car crashed into the building of a primary school in southwest London, leaving an eight-year-old girl dead.

Tickets for Wimbledon's show courts get snapped up months in advance but for tennis fans who miss out, there is always "the queue" -- an institution and an experience in itself.

Sri Lanka maintained their unbeaten record at the Cricket World Cup Qualifier as Pathum Nissanka's hundred helped secure an eight-wicket victory over the West Indies on Friday.

William Saliba has committed his future to Arsenal after signing a new long-term deal with the Gunners on Friday.

Wall Street stocks sputtered Friday as investors still bet on the US Federal Reserve hiking interest rates further despite jobs data showing hiring slowed more than expected last month.

Kenyan police fired tear gas on opposition leader Raila Odinga's convoy on Friday as rights groups condemned "arbitrary arrests" during anti-government protests over a cost-of-living crisis and a raft of controversial tax hikes.

Chinese regulators said Friday they had fined fintech giant Ant Group almost $1 billion for "illegal acts" and handed an affiliate of rival Tencent a $415 million penalty, adding that a long-running crackdown on tech firms was drawing to a close.

England captain Ben Stokes's latest dashing counter-attack kept his side's Ashes hopes alive in the third Test against Australia at Headingley on Friday.

Hiring in the United States slowed in June, the Labor Department said Friday, with fewer new jobs created than many had expected, a signal that the economy is showing signs of cooling.

Thousands of people rallied in streets across Pakistan Friday to condemn a Koran burning in Sweden that has outraged Muslims around the world.

A fire at a retirement home in Milan on Friday killed six people, firefighters said, with some 80 other residents hospitalised suffering from smoke inhalation.

Chinese fintech giant Ant Group has been fined almost $1 billion for "illegal acts", the country's financial regulators said Friday, adding that a longtime crackdown on tech firms was drawing to a close.

A panel of AI-enabled humanoid robots took the microphone Friday at a United Nations conference with the message: they could eventually run the world better than humans.

Nobel literature laureate Mario Vargas Llosa has been discharged from the Madrid hospital where he was admitted at the weekend for complications linked to Covid-19, his son said Friday.

NATO leaders at a summit next week will underscore a vow that Ukraine will join the alliance in the future, its chief Jens Stoltenberg said Friday, as Kyiv seeks faster progress.

US Secretary of State Antony Blinken on Friday gathered dozens of countries in a global bid to combat fentanyl and other synthetic drugs, but without China -- accused by some in Washington over an addiction epidemic.

Max Verstappen outpaced his team-mate Sergio Perez as the Red Bull pair scored a predictable one-two in Friday's opening practice for this weekend's British Grand Prix.

Carlos Alcaraz and Novak Djokovic can take a step closer to a Wimbledon title showdown on Friday as Andy Murray resumes his big-hitting duel with Stefanos Tsitsipas on a star-studded Centre Court schedule.

Australia captain Pat Cummins sparked an England collapse to leave the tourists in command of the third Ashes Test and heading towards a series victory at Headingley on Friday.

A German court on Friday exonerated a former custodian who had spent more than 13 years in prison for the suspected murder of an elderly woman found in a bathtub.

Top Indian opposition leader Rahul Gandhi's efforts to overturn his expulsion from parliament were again blocked Friday when a court refused to stay his jail sentence for defamation.

President Volodymyr Zelensky is set to hold talks with Turkish leader Recep Tayyip Erdogan on Friday on the latest leg of a tour to push Ukraine's bid to join NATO and secure more weapons from allies.

Major stock markets diverged and the dollar fell Friday, with all eyes on more US jobs data for clues on the outlook for interest rates.

Australia strengthened their grip on the third Ashes Test by removing local heroes Joe Root and Jonny Bairstow cheaply as they reduced England to 87-5 on Friday's second day at Headingley.

Human Rights Watch on Friday urged Tunisia to put an end to what it called the "collective expulsions" of Black African migrants to a desert area near the Libyan border.

Wimbledon tournament director Jamie Baker said Friday the grass courts were "good and grippy" despite several high-profile tumbles in the first week of the Grand Slam.

Thousands of diehard Taylor Swift fans erupted in screams Friday as a Philippine drag queen impersonating the American music megastar strutted on stage in a Manila shopping centre.

British actor Simon Callow, who starred in the 1990s hit film "Four Weddings and a Funeral", on Friday took aim at theatres for their growing use of trigger warnings.

The International Maritime Organization, overseer of the highly-polluting shipping industry, sealed a landmark deal Friday to improve its target to cut carbon emissions but green campaigners said it fell far short.