MADRID: Kylian Mbappe matched Cristiano Ronaldo’s Real Madrid record for goals in a calendar year as Los Blancos defeated Sevilla 2-0 on Saturday to stay within touching distance of La Liga leaders Barcelona. The French forward converted a late penalty to bring his 2025 tally to 59 goals — equalling
HANOI (Vietnam): Crouched between mountains of discarded plastic, Lanh strips the labels off bottles of Coke, Evian and local Vietnamese tea drinks so they can be melted into tiny pellets for reuse. More waste arrives daily, piling up like technicolour snowdrifts along the roads and rivers of Xa Cau, one
WASHINGTON: The Arctic recorded its hottest year on record between October 2024 and September 2025, underscoring the accelerating impacts of climate change, according to the US National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration’s annual Arctic Report Card. Average temperatures were 1.60 degrees Celsius above the 1991–2020 norm, with the region experiencing its
TOKYO: Japanese Prime Minister Sanae Takaichi (pic) said yesterday she is “always open” to dialogue with China amid a diplomatic row between Tokyo and Beijing over comments she made about Taiwan. “China is an important neighbour for Japan, and we need to build constructive and stable relationships,” Takaichi told a
SYDNEY: Australian police charged one of the alleged Bondi Beach gunmen with murder and terrorism yesterday, as grief-stricken mourners buried the first of 15 people slain in the attack. Sajid Akram and his son Naveed are accused of opening fire on a Jewish festival at the famed surf beach on
SHANGHAI: Shares in China’s MetaX, which makes high-end chips used to power AI systems, rocketed more than 750 per cent on its debut in Shanghai yesterday, fuelled by hopes of the country’s potential to challenge US powerhouse Nvidia. The rally in MetaX Integrated Circuits Shanghai came less than two weeks after
KUALA LUMPUR: FIFA has penalised Malaysia with three 3-0 defeats for fielding ineligible players, the country’s football authorities said Wednesday, the latest punishment in a simmering scandal. Friendly wins over Palestine and Singapore, and a draw against Cape Verde, all at home this year, have been overturned, Football Association of
BOGOTÁ: At least 16 high school students celebrating their graduation and a driver were killed on Sunday when the bus they were traveling in plunged into a ravine in northwest Colombia. The group of students — aged 16 to 18 — from a school in Bello, near Medellin, were traveling
TOKYO: Two pandas at a Tokyo zoo will be returned to China in January, Japanese media said on Monday, potentially leaving Japan without the beloved animals for the first time in half a century. Loaned out as part of China’s “panda diplomacy” programme, the distinctive black-and-white animals have symbolised friendship
LONDON: Cosy knits, sparkly bobbles and Santa hats were all the canine rage on Sunday as hundreds of sausage dogs and their owners converged on central London for an annual parade and get-together. The dachshunds’ gathering in London’s Hyde Park came after a previous “Sausage Walk” planned for Halloween had to