Veteran 38-year-old Wallabies playmaker Quade Cooper says he never retired and is eyeing a comeback for next year's World Cup on home soil.
In California, repeated heat waves have sent Americans running to the beaches to seek relief, but more and more swimmers are finding themselves in troubled waters as strong waves whip the coast and fuel powerful rip currents.
FIFA president Gianni Infantino said on Saturday he had scrapped a plan to allow private investment in the World Cup following fierce backlash from football officials worldwide.
- FIFA scraps private investment plan after backlash: Infantino
- US plans steep water cuts for southwest amid Colorado River crisis
Sports
South Africa snatched a dramatic 2-2 draw with Ivory Coast at the Women's Africa Cup of Nations (WAFCON) on Friday, but their hopes of reaching the quarter-finals hang in the balance.
July 31, 2026
RECENT NEWS
The European Union on Friday scrambled to contain one of the largest migrant crises faced by the bloc in recent years, after tens of thousands of people crossed into Spain's enclave in north Africa in just days.
July 31, 2026
RECENT NEWS
US petroleum giants ExxonMobil and Chevron released blowout profits Friday due to the Middle East war, as executives cautioned that elevated gasoline prices will probably continue to strain consumers.
July 31, 2026
Hungary's sole nuclear power plant will be shut down next week because of low water levels in the river Danube, Prime Minister Peter Magyar said Friday as central Europe slogs through the latest in a series of heatwaves.
July 31, 2026
Google announced a new feature allowing Google Earth users to generate AI visualizations on top of the service's satellite imagery, sparking concerns from researchers and open-source intelligence experts about the potential for disinformation.
July 31, 2026
Nature
A strengthening El Nino that could shatter all-time records is "adding fuel to a planet already on fire" and pushing the world into "uncharted territory," UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres warned Friday.
July 31, 2026
RECENT NEWS
Eddie Howe confirmed on Friday he had stepped down as Newcastle manager to "recharge and take a break" following a turbulent end to his five-year spell at St James' Park.
Asian stock markets rallied Friday, led by a record surge of almost 18 percent for Seoul as technology firms performed a blistering recovery from an extended sell-off.
Hundreds of firefighters were on Friday battling strong winds to quench a wildfire in southwestern Turkey as high winds stoked a new blaze, complicating efforts to bring the fires under control, a minister said.
Chelsea winger Mykhailo Mudryk has been cleared to resume his career after the Football Association and the World Anti-Doping Agency "resolved his appeal" against a ban for failing a doping test.
July 31, 2026
Sports
Eddie Howe has stepped down as Newcastle manager to "recharge and take a break" following a five-year spell at St James' Park, the club confirmed on Friday.
July 31, 2026
RECENT NEWS
As the smoke from France's worst wildfire in over 75 years rose over the Bassin d'Arcachon, a pair of nearby firefighters tucked into a plate of oysters plucked from the bay west of Bordeaux.
New Zealand's first full-scale rugby tour of South Africa in 30 years will have significant benefits for them, head coach Dave Rennie said in Cape Town on Friday.
England cricket chief Rob Key has left the door open for a dramatic international comeback by former Test captain Ben Stokes, who announced his shock retirement in late June.
All three US Federal Reserve policymakers who dissented from the central bank's decision to keep interest rates steady earlier this week said Friday that rate hikes were needed now in order to avoid entrenched inflation.
July 31, 2026
- New blazes in Greece as strong winds hamper firefighting
- Trump and far-right seize on Spanish migration crisis
- Springboks star Feinberg-Mngomezulu back for Argentina Test
- Hamas agrees to disarm under Trump plan
- Shops closed, businesses quiet as Spain's Ceuta faces migrant surge
- French, Italian winegrowers face earliest ever harvest
- Chelsea fined £10mn, handed suspended transfer ban for breaching agent rules
- Alarm over climate-linked low level of German waterways