England will limp home from Australia after a humbling 4-1 Ashes defeat but appear likely to stick with the regime of Ben Stokes and Brendon McCullum, who have vowed to learn lessons from a painful tour.
Nobel winner and Belarusian dissident Ales Bialiatski told AFP on Thursday that it was "very important" to keep up pressure on Belarus in order to free political prisoners after his first meeting with the Norwegian Nobel Committee.
Russia on Thursday slammed a plan for European peacekeepers to be deployed to Ukraine as "dangerous" and dubbed Kyiv and its allies an "axis of war", dousing hopes the plan could be a step towards ending the almost four-year-war.
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Sports
Former Premier League referee David Coote was given a suspended prison sentence on Thursday after admitting making an indecent image of a child, with the judge describing his "spectacular fall from grace".
January 08, 2026
RECENT NEWS
Farmers enter Paris on tractors to rage against trade deal
Politics
January 08, 2026
The England and Wales Cricket Board said it had launched an immediate and "thorough" review following the tourists' defeat in the fifth and final Ashes Test on Thursday.
January 08, 2026
RECENT NEWS
Humanoid robots danced, somersaulted, dealt blackjack and played ping-pong at the Consumer Electronics Show this week, but some in the industry are impatient for them to become more useful, not just a promise of things to come.
January 08, 2026
Asian markets mostly fell Thursday as the rally that has characterised the start of the year paused with investors looking ahead to the release of key US jobs data this week.
January 08, 2026
Australia will hold a royal commission inquiry into the mass shooting that killed 15 people at Bondi Beach, Prime Minister Anthony Albanese said Thursday, as he faced public demands for answers.
January 08, 2026
Sports
World number one Aryna Sabalenka accused tennis authorities on Thursday of failing to put player welfare first over what she called an "insane" tennis season.
January 08, 2026
RECENT NEWS
A Cambodian bank founded by accused scam boss Chen Zhi, who has been indicted by the United States over multibillion-dollar fraud and extradited to China, was ordered liquidated Thursday, Cambodia's central bank said.
French farmers rolled into Paris on tractors Thursday morning in a show of dissent against a free trade deal they fear will create unfair competition.
Outstretching his hands in a signature Donald Trump pose, impersonator Ryan Chen mimics the US president's voice and gestures with such accuracy that he has become a social media phenomenon with his funny videos.
Ben Stokes vowed Thursday to stay on as England captain and said he believes coach Brendon McCullum will too, while admitting there were "wrongs to put right" after a crushing 4-1 Ashes defeat.
January 08, 2026
Boulevard
German hard discount food retailer Lidl announced Thursday it would halt spots on broadcast television in France, where it is one of the country's top advertisers.
January 08, 2026
RECENT NEWS
England captain Ben Stokes said Thursday there were a lot of "wrongs to put right" after a crushing 4-1 Ashes series defeat to Australia.
World number one Aryna Sabalenka said she still had room for improvement after a second dominant win in the Brisbane International on Thursday.
Australia won the final Ashes Test against England by five wickets on Thursday to seal a dominant 4-1 victory after a gruelling series, sending the retiring Usman Khawaja out on a high.
Shai Gilgeous-Alexander rescued the Oklahoma City Thunder with a game-tying buzzer-beater before finishing with 46 points in a 129-125 overtime victory against the Utah Jazz on Wednesday.
January 08, 2026
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