The World Trade Organization kicked off a ministerial meeting Thursday aimed at breathing life into drawn-out negotiations towards banning subsidies that favour overfishing, but numerous sticking points remain. Before the meeting, WTO chief Ngozi O...

Sri Lanka's cricket board is planning disciplinary action against batting coach Grant Flower following allegations that he breached a bio-secure bubble during an England tour, cricket sources said Thursday. Sri Lanka's preparations for a home serie...

Hundreds of animals have died in Dhaka's biggest pet market after stores were forced to close during Bangladesh's coronavirus lockdown, leaving owners desperate and rights activists angry. "We need to keep the doors open so the animals don't suffoc...

An Afghan government negotiator on Thursday said the Taliban had offered a three-month ceasefire in exchange for the release of 7,000 insurgent prisoners, as the militant group continues a sweeping offensive across the country. "It is a big demand,...

India wicketkeeper-batsman Rishabh Pant has tested positive for Covid-19 as the squad prepares for a Test series in England, a cricket official told AFP on Thursday. The Indian players, led by Virat Kohli, are currently in London but will enter a b...

Australia's bid to quash a fast-spreading coronavirus outbreak will see the country's second city of Melbourne return to a "hard and fast" lockdown late Thursday. State premier Dan Andrews said the city -- and surrounding Victoria -- will join Sydn...

Singapore police are investigating several karaoke bars for breaching coronavirus restrictions and have arrested 20 foreign women for alleged "vice-related activities" after an outbreak linked to the nightspots, authorities said. The city-state rep...

Fiji's influential captain Levani Botia has been forced out of the second Test against the All Blacks in Hamilton on Saturday because of injury, with lock Leone Nakarawa elevated to lead the side. Botia, who is nicknamed "Demolition Man" and plays ...

Rwanda will put the capital Kigali and eight other districts across the country under lockdown from Saturday to rein in surging coronavirus cases and deaths, officials said. The restrictions will last until July 26, the office of Prime Minister Ed...

Hong Kong's press freedoms are "in tatters" as China remoulds the once outspoken business hub in its own authoritarian image, the city's main journalist union said Thursday, adding it feared "fake news" laws were on their way. "The past year is def...

It had been billed as the "Summer of Love" in the Dutch media, with the relaxing of coronavirus measures promising a return to going out and having fun. But just weeks after restrictions were rolled back in the Netherlands, those hopes look all but...

At Saint Petersburg's historic Baltic Shipyard, cranes hover over the shining Neva River as hundreds of workers build four nuclear-powered ice-breakers. Fronted by a Russian flag and named after the country's northern regions, the giant vessels are...

Phoenix won't hit the panic button after squandering a two-game advantage in the NBA Finals, but the Suns will need improved ball-handling and rebounding to slow the momentum-fueled Milwaukee Bucks. Khris Middleton scored 40 points and Greek forwar...

The withdrawal of US troops from Afghanistan and seemingly unstoppable march of the Taliban opens a strategic door to China that is laden with both risk and opportunity. China abhors a power vacuum, especially on its borders, and maintaining stabil...

A chorus in medical scrubs intones "polonium, polonium" as an opera about the poisoned Kremlin critic Alexander Litvinenko premieres in a British theatre on Thursday. The former Russian security agent died in 2006 after drinking tea laced with the ...