Monaco Journal - News from Monaco, Monte-Carlo and the world

Brendon McCullum has a huge task on his hands to lift English Test cricket from the doldrums but comes into the job having already had an influence on their limited-overs revival.

US President Joe Biden warned nations attending Thursday's virtual global summit on Covid-19 that there was "still so much left to do" to quell the pandemic, as more than $3 billion in new funding was pledged.

Amnesty International on Thursday criticised former world number one golfer Greg Norman over "wrong and seriously misguided" remarks about Saudi Arabia's human rights record and the 2018 murder of journalist Jamal Khashoggi.

Qatar's emir and the European Union on Thursday said they are working to push forward stalled negotiations aimed at reviving a 2015 nuclear deal between Iran and major world powers.

The UK government was accused Thursday of a "cover-up" after refusing to release security advice issued about the controversial 2020 appointment of a Russian-born newspaper baron to parliament.

The Biden administration has scotched plans to hold three offshore oil and gas lease sales in Alaska and the Gulf of Mexico, a government spokeswoman said Thursday.

Vietnam set off a spectacle of lights, dance and music at Thursday's opening ceremony of the Southeast Asian Games, brushing aside gloomy weather to launch a party-like atmosphere eclipsing a six-month Covid delay of the event.

The last major fugitive wanted for his role in the 1994 Rwandan genocide, Protais Mpiranya, died in Zimbabwe in 2006, UN prosecutors probing the case said on Thursday.

Zach Kleiman, the Memphis Grizzlies' vice president of basketball operations and general manager, was named NBA Executive of the Year on Thursday, becoming the youngest to ever win the award.

Novak Djokovic strolled into the Italian Open quarter-finals on Sunday with a routine 6-2, 6-2 win over Stan Wawrinka, while Iga Swiatek continued her bid for a fifth straight tournament victory by beating Victoria Azarenka.

World equities mostly fell Thursday and the euro hit a five-year dollar low as investors worried about growth amid stubborn inflation and rising interest rates.

French rider Arnaud Demare claimed his second win in two days with a thrilling sprint finish for stage six of the Giro d'Italia on Thursday.

They excelled in the athletic spotlight, but their feats on the beam and bars masked a darker reality: Canadian gymnasts are taking legal action to denounce a "toxic" culture of physical, sexual and psychological abuse by the sport's top brass.

French far-right TV pundit-turned-politician Eric Zemmour said Thursday he would seek a seat in parliament standing in the glitzy constituency around Saint-Tropez, three weeks after failing with a presidential bid.

Joseph Varon -- who is chief of intensive care at United Memorial, a small hospital that mainly treats minority patients in Houston -- made headlines when a photo of him hugging an elderly Covid patient during Thanksgiving in 2020 went viral.

Another venue row involving Morocco is brewing, this time over qualifying for the 2023 Africa Cup of Nations (AFCON) in the Ivory Coast.

Teenager Maria Pshenychna embraces her father, Yuriy, as she descends from a train from Poland at a Kyiv station, returning home after fleeing the Russian invasion two months ago.

Iran is engaged in a brazen policy of hostage taking of foreigners to extract concessions from the West, activists say, with further Western nationals arrested and others even facing execution.

The US Senate was poised Thursday to confirm Jerome Powell to a second term as head of the Federal Reserve, as the central bank works to crush soaring inflation.

The emir of Qatar on Thursday accused Israel over the death of Al Jazeera journalist Shireen Abu Akleh during an Israeli army raid in the occupied West Bank.

Club Brugge manager Alfred Schreuder was appointed head coach of Dutch giants Ajax on Thursday, replacing the massively successful Erik ten Hag, who is leaving for Manchester United.

Badminton world champ Viktor Axelsen fended off a gutsy assault from South Korea's Heo Kwang-hee in a three-game thriller at Thailand's Thomas Cup on Thursday night.

German Economy Minister Robert Habeck accused Russia on Thursday of using energy as "a weapon", after Moscow slapped sanctions on Western energy firms and slowed gas flows to Europe.

The United States has crossed the threshold of one million deaths from Covid-19, the White House said on Thursday, as the nation seeks to turn the page on the pandemic despite threats of another surge.

World equities tanked Thursday and the euro hit a five-year dollar low as slowing US inflation failed to dent fears of rising global interest rates.

Eddie Howe admitted Thursday that Newcastle will not be able to spend wildly in the upcoming transfer window after securing their Premier League status.

Turkey's supreme court of appeals on Thursday upheld a prison sentence for the head of the Istanbul branch of the country's main opposition party, a party official told AFP, in a move seen as another crackdown on opponents ahead of next year's presidential election.

Iga Swiatek continued her hot streak on Thursday by seeing off Victoria Azarenka 6-4, 6-1 to move into the Italian Open quarter-finals.

Suzuki announced on Thursday they want to quit MotoGP and are holding talks with the championship promoters Dorna over breaking their contract.

Former New Zealand captain Brendon McCullum was named coach of England's Test side on Thursday, with a brief to shake the team out of its deep malaise.

High-kicking showgirls and nightly cabaret shows at the famed Parisian Lido club on the Champs-Elysees are set to be a thing of the past after the venue's new owner confirmed mass lay-offs on Thursday.

Sri Lanka's president swore in a new prime minister Thursday to replace his brother, who was banned from leaving the country after his supporters launched violent attacks on a protest against the nation's dire economic crisis.