Alexandra Eala crashed out in the Ningbo Open last 16 on Thursday as world No 1 Elena Rybakina reached the quarter-finals on her return from injury when opponent Polina Kudermetova retired. Top seed and defending champion Rybakina was cruising 5-0 in eastern China when the world No 105 from Uzbekistan called it quits because of injury. Philippine history-maker Eala suffered a battling straight-sets defeat to Diana Shnaider, the Russian world No 13 winning 7-5, 6-4 to book a quarter-final against...

A mob of about 50 people beat a foreign national to death on Thursday in South Africa’s port city of Durban, a flashpoint for anti-migrant sentiment, police said. Durban has been a focus of months of protests against foreign nationals, with looting and violence erupting after an anti-migrant march in the city two weeks ago. Thursday’s attack in the city centre was on the sidelines of a march, police said, without being able to say what the demonstration was about. Two men from the group...

Facing US sanctions, the International Criminal Court was on Thursday awarded the European Union’s top rights prize, in a show of support that risks upsetting President Donald Trump. “The European Union is built on respect for multilateralism and international institutions, and this prize recognises the important work of the court in upholding international law and justice,” said European Parliament chief Roberta Metsola in announcing the award. The ICC thanked the European Parliament for giving...

Officials at the Asian Para Games in Nagoya played the wrong national anthems three times this week, prompting the mayor to apologise just weeks after the city hosted the mishap-plagued Asian Games. The Asian Para Games are taking place in the central Japanese hub city through Saturday, featuring around 4,000 athletes and officials in 18 sports. Nagoya mayor Ichiro Hirosawa apologised on Wednesday for the latest error, which occurred despite officials’ pledges to implement steps to prevent...

Australia and East Timor signed a defence deal on Thursday to boost cyber and maritime security as Canberra seeks to curb China’s influence among its island neighbours. Australia is East Timor’s largest defence and security partner and the agreement will significantly increase defence exercises, Defence Minister Richard Marles told reporters. “This is a time to double down on friendship, to double down on family,” he said in East Timor’s capital Dili. Australia will provide A$62 million (US$44...

Moscow firing ballistic missiles at Ukraine shortly after talks between US envoy Steve Witkoff and Russia’s Vladimir Putin showed the Kremlin’s position on the war had not changed, President Volodymyr Zelensky said on Thursday. The Kremlin had said it was willing to restart trilateral talks with Kyiv and Washington next month, though dismissed new ideas brought by Witkoff – developed with European countries and Ukraine – as lacking substance. Russia hit a dozen Ukrainian regions overnight,...

The publisher of top-selling Haitian-Canadian writer Thelyson Orelien said Wednesday it had confirmed that he used artificial intelligence to help write his novel It Was Either That or Die. Orelien has denied allegations that he used AI on his breakthrough novel and, last week, Canadian publisher Boreal said it was standing by the 38-year-old writer. But on Wednesday, Boreal said it had conducted a further investigation into the allegations. “New information, confirmed over the past few days,...

Indonesia’s president railed against “countries that like to insult” his nation over wildfires that have razed vast areas, spewing toxic haze into neighbouring countries. The Southeast Asian giant has for months struggled to contain fires that Nusantara Atlas, an independent monitor analysing satellite data, said had consumed more than 1.9 million hectares (4.7 million acres) in the nine months to September. The haze has sent air pollution levels surging to dangerous levels not only at home, but...

Vivek Ramaswamy, the Republican candidate for Ohio governor, faced a firestorm of criticism Wednesday over an ad featuring Democratic rival Amy Acton’s estranged mother, whose husband was charged with raping Acton when she was a child. Acton has not spoken with her mother, Donna Arthur, since her childhood, when she accused her then-stepfather of sexually abusing her for years. In the ad, Arthur says her daughter has “lied her entire life”. “Don’t let her become your governor. If you think...

Government agencies and companies around the world shut down websites Wednesday after two critical flaws came to light involving PHP, a programming language that is the basis for a large share of the internet. PHP sits underneath popular web design platforms, so the weaknesses potentially affect a vast range of websites, from online stores and news outlets to government services. Wiz, one of the security firms that found the flaws, estimated that PHP runs about 70 per cent of the world’s...

US President Donald Trump’s pivot away from Ukraine has triggered fresh questions about his attachment to Russian leader Vladimir Putin, the man a top American envoy flattered on Wednesday as a “humanitarian”. Trump has cast his dealings with Putin as part of a mega-deal that has secured the release of American detainee Stephen Hubbard – and which Trump says will end Russia’s war on Ukraine. At the same time, he has repeatedly berated Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky and called for him to...

The images of France’s riots posted and broadcast around the world have cast a pall on the country’s important tourism sector, with many fearing worse consequences if violence returns. “The surge of violence in the centres of Nice, Paris, Lyon – it’s catastrophic,” said Christelle Cassagne, head of the ADN Tourisme body covering the country’s tourism institutions. “When you book a hotel for a week, it’s not so you stay stuck in the hotel,” she said. The scenes of clashes with police, public...

President Emmanuel Macron on Wednesday criticised world leaders for making “stupid” comments about the rioting on the sidelines of protests in France, in an apparent swipe at US President Donald Trump and Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu. Macron said the leaders were taking aim at France in the context of coming elections in their countries and added that they had been influenced by fake videos generated by artificial intelligence about the riots. Some of the worst urban violence to hit...

LeBron James said the Philadelphia 76ers still had plenty of room for improvement after launching their NBA season with an impressive opening night victory over the New York Knicks on Tuesday. James, 41, launched his quest for a fifth NBA championship with 14 points and seven assists in a 106-100 defeat of the reigning champions at Madison Square Garden. But despite an encouraging first win in a Philadelphia uniform, James was keeping his feet firmly on the ground. “It’s going to take some...

Laddli Khatun pulled one document after another from a yellow bag, desperately hoping one would be enough to keep her name on India’s electoral rolls. As the world’s largest democracy overhauls its voter lists, millions like Khatun are scrambling to re-establish their credentials, despite having voted before. Critics and opposition parties say the exercise risks mass disenfranchisement, and those removed fear wider citizenship repercussions. More than 133 million names – including 28 million...

In the latest showdown from Brazil’s increasingly rancorous presidential race Tuesday, both candidates called for the disqualification of their rivals over allegations of social media malfeasance, according to court filings and campaign officials. President Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva’s campaign said they would request the disqualification of right-wing rival Flavio Bolsonaro on Wednesday over alleged election interference by tech giant Meta. Later Tuesday, Bolsonaro’s team struck back with its...

A Russian satellite moved within just 100 metres of a European commercial spacecraft that supports Ukraine’s military at the weekend, orbital tracking data showed, raising concerns about Moscow’s activities in space. Russia launched the Cosmos-2612 military satellite into low Earth orbit in April. It began changing course late September and eventually moved into the same orbit as ICEYE-X36, a satellite operated by Finland’s ICEYE under contract with the United States. The two spacecraft came...

The BBC announced more than 100 job cuts and the closure of two channels Tuesday as the cash-strapped UK broadcaster aims to save £500 million (US$668 million) over the next two years. BBC News announced the “net closure of just over 100 roles”, according to an internal note by director Rachel Jupp, part of some 2,000 job cuts the broader organisation is eyeing to achieve its planned savings. The job cuts represent £5.5 million in savings, said Jupp. She was appointed BBC News’ director this...

The number of people facing acute food insecurity in Afghanistan is set to rise above 19 million this winter, the United Nations warned on Tuesday. The food crisis gripping Afghanistan is projected to affect millions of young children in 2027, the United Nations’ humanitarian agency OCHA said. More than four million babies and children under six will need treatment for acute malnutrition next year, it warned. Between September and October, 15.9 million people – or nearly one in three Afghans –...

British fighter planes will be deployed to help Saudi Arabia defend itself against increasing attacks from Yemen’s Houthi rebels, the UK government announced on Tuesday. The defence ministry said the deployment formed part of “additional defensive military support” to Riyadh. “The UK will fly defensive counter air missions to support the protection of Saudi cities and critical national infrastructure against aerial attack, using RAF Typhoon fighter jets,” the Ministry of Defence (MoD) said in a...