India’s women’s team was hailed at home for their gritty showing at Lord’s after just missing out on making history in narrowly losing to England in the World Cup final. Millions of cricket-crazy Indians watching the match on big screens across the country were left heartbroken as their team fell short of their 229-run target … Read more
The UN accused Australia Monday of backtracking on a deal to relax its strong stance on asylum-seekers and resettle some refugees now held in overseas detention on home soil. The UN High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR) said it had agreed last November to help relocate the boatpeople to the United States on the basis that … Read more
East Timor is set for another coalition after the two governing parties in Asia’s youngest democracy clinched a majority of the votes in a trouble-free contest praised Monday as “remarkable” by observers. The poll came at a tough time for the tiny, impoverished country, with key oil reserves running dry while the government struggles to … Read more
Inside back Karmichael Hunt has been ruled out for eight weeks following ankle surgery and will miss the Wallabies’ Bledisloe Cup opener with New Zealand next month, team officials said on Monday. Hunt, one of the stars of Australia’s home Tests last month, had an ankle sprain and will miss a chunk of the Wallabies’ … Read more
With its airborne sharks, over-the-top gore and endless cheesy cameos from fading stars it ought to have flopped — but the viral “Sharknado” franchise shows no signs of losing its bite. A fifth film in five years, “Sharknado 5: Global Swarming,” is due for release on August 6, building on social media buzz that has … Read more
India captain Mithali Raj said now was time to “create the base” of a female equivalent to the Indian Premier League after her side’s hopes of Women’s World Cup final glory were snatched away by England at Lord’s. Raj’s side looked on course to lift the trophy for the first time at 191 for three, … Read more
Katie Ledecky earned a second gold medal on Sunday at the world aquatics championships in Budapest by helping the United States win the women’s 4x100m freestyle final. Sweden’s Sarah Sjostrom had set a world record of 51.71sec in the opening leg, becoming the first woman to break the 52-second barrier. The USA clocked three minutes, … Read more
Olympic champion Mack Horton set up a showdown with Chinese superstar Sun Yang on Sunday after the Australian squeezed into the men’s 400m freestyle final at the world aquatic championships. Horton dethroned Sun as Olympic champion over 400m at last year’s Rio Games, branding the Chinese superstar a “drugs cheat” after his three-month doping ban … Read more
The two largest parties in East Timor’s parliamentary election were neck-and-neck, according to preliminary results Sunday, with neither expected to secure enough support to govern alone. With 90 percent of votes from Saturday’s election counted, the National Congress for Timorese Reconstruction (CNRT) — led by independence hero Xanana Gusmao — had about 28 percent of … Read more
Indonesia’s President Joko Widodo has ordered the police to shoot drug traffickers who resist arrest in the latest effort to eradicate drug use in the country. In a speech to one of Indonesia’s political parties late Friday, Widodo urged law enforcers to crackdown on drug dealers in Indonesia. “Be firm. Especially to foreign drug dealers … Read more
India captain Mithali Raj has urged her side to embrace the challenge of playing hosts England in the World Cup final at a sold-out Lord’s on Sunday. Raj’s side won through to the final with a stunning 36-run win over reigning champions Australia, with Harmanpreet Kaur making a stunning 171 not out. India have never … Read more
Shaun Stevenson scored a simple try four minutes from time to seal a 17-11 win for Waikato Chiefs of New Zealand over Western Stormers of South Africa Saturday in a “ugly” Super Rugby quarter-final. The substitute winger gathered a long, perfectly weighted skip pass from skipper and fly-half Aaron Cruden to cross the line unopposed … Read more
England captain Heather Knight hopes her side will have saved their best for last when they face India in the Women’s World Cup final at Lord’s on Sunday. Tournament hosts England suffered a surprise 35-run defeat by India in their very first pool match of this year’s World Cup. But since that Derby disappointment, England … Read more
Australia’s world number six Jason Day shot up the British Open leaderboard on Saturday after firing a fine 65 in the third round at Royal Birkdale. Day, the PGA champion in 2015, was one of a host of players to profit from the benign early conditions that contrasted sharply with the miserable weather late on … Read more
Australia’s cricketers have been warned this year’s Ashes series could be scrapped, even if a new pay deal is reached with the game’s governing body, reports said on Saturday. Australian Cricketers Association chief Alistair Nicholson has warned the players via email the showpiece Test series against England, due to begin in Brisbane on November 23, … Read more
East Timor headed to the polls to elect a new parliament Saturday as Asia’s youngest democracy battles economic challenges 15 years after gaining its independence from Indonesia. About 760,000 people are expected to cast their votes for candidates from 21 parties in the tiny half-island nation, in the first parliamentary election since the departure of … Read more
The International Space Station has become the first “off planet” addition to Google Maps’ Street View facility. Astronauts helped capture 360-degree panoramas of the insides of the ISS modules, as well as views down to the Earth below. Some of the photography features pop-up text descriptions, marking the first time such annotations have appeared on … Read more
A rare bottle of first vintage 1951 Penfolds Grange has been snapped up at auction for Aus$51,750 (US$40,825), officials said Friday in one of Australia’s most expensive wine sales. It is believed fewer than 20 bottles of the 1951 vintage still exist, with a handful in private ownership and the rest in the Penfolds Museum. … Read more
US entrepreneur Elon Musk said Thursday he’d received tentative approval from the government to build a conceptual “hyperloop” system that would blast passenger pods down vacuum-sealed tubes from New York to Washington at near supersonic speeds. “Just received verbal govt approval for The Boring Company to build an underground NY-Phil-Balt-DC Hyperloop. NY-DC in 29 mins,” … Read more
There was the infamous Hong Kong “killer pitch”, an 11th-hour cancellation of a Manchester derby in Beijing and now Arsenal players struck down with food poisoning in Shanghai. Add to that searing heat, tropical downpours and long-haul flights, and it is easy to see why Arsenal manager Arsene Wenger was left wondering aloud this week … Read more