England's Chris Woakes took his first-five wicket haul against Australia as the Ashes holders were dismissed for 317 on the second day of the fourth...

Two people were killed and multiple injured in a shooting in Auckland, New Zealand, just hours ahead of the opening match of the Fifa Women’s World Cup match. A gunman, 24, stormed into a high-rise construction site at 1 Queen Street in downtown Auckland on Thursday morning, around 7.20am local time. The man, who is believed to be a construction worker at the site, entered the building armed with a pump-action shotgun and moved through the building, firing bullets. After reaching the upper levels, he contained himself within an elevator shaft, where he fired more shots before being found dead a short time later. An officer was injured in the shooting, as well as four members of the public. Security was boosted before the opening Women’s World Cup game after the shooting which took place near the hotel of the Norwegian team, who were scheduled to play in the opening match later on the same day. Auckland has welcomed thousands of international players and tourists for the ninth Women’s World Cup which is being co-hosted by Australia and New Zealand. On Thursday, New Zealand was taking on Norway in the opening. Officials from Eden Park, where the game is being played after an opening ceremony for the tournament, encouraged fans to arrive at the stadium early. “There will be an increased security presence within the precinct and across the venue. Additional traffic management measures are in place,” Eden Park said. Several players took to social media to report they were safe. “All seems calm, and we are preparing as normal for the match tonight,” Norway captain Maren Mjelde told Norwegian newspaper Verdens Gang during the police operation. Italy and the US team’s training was delayed as players could not get out of their hotel. A US Soccer spokesperson said the American players were just getting up for breakfast inside the hotel when the incident occurred. “Our security sort of immediately liaised with the local authorities and Department of State. We determined immediately that everybody was safe and accounted for and from then on we just had to wait it out,” Aaron Heifetz told reporters. Douglas Emhoff, the husband of US vice president Kamala Harris who is leading the presidential delegation to New Zealand for the opening ceremony of the World Cup, is safe, the US embassy said. Prime minister Chris Hipkins said the soccer tournament would proceed as planned, adding the shooting appeared to be the actions of an individual and that police were not seeking anyone else in relation to the incident. “There was no identified political or ideological motivation for the shooting and therefore no national security risk,” Mr Hipkins said during a televised media briefing. There would be no change to New Zealand’s security threat level although there would be an increased police presence in the city, he said. “Obviously we would prefer it not to have started in this way,” Mr Hipkins told journalists later in the day. “It will be acknowledged what happened today at the opening ceremony. And I will be going, it is safe to go and we continue to encourage the whole community to get behind this,” he said. Additional reporting by agencies. Read More Women’s World Cup 2023 LIVE: New Zealand stun Norway as Sam Kerr ruled out of Australia opener New Zealand shooting: Armed police guard construction site where gunman killed two Women’s World Cup opener ‘proceeds as planned’ despite fatal Auckland shooting Women's World Cup team from Philippines has American flavor Women’s World Cup to ‘proceed as planned’ after shooting in Auckland Cases of anti-Muslim hate ‘have more than doubled’ in a decade

For a nation more than 7,000 miles from the United States, the Philippines boasts a women’s national soccer team with a decidedly American feel

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Adelaide Clemens discussed "Justified: City Primeval," the Orioles took the AL East lead, the Yankees hit a new low and more in the Roundup.

Cheikh Thiam passes the ball to one of his friends, a group of students and fellow football fans, and darts across an artificial...

The owner of Fulham Football Club’s owner has slammed the Saudi Arabian regime for throwing money at buying some of the world’s top footballers. Tony Khan, whose family bought the club in 2013 and who is also vice chairman, said: “It's amazing. I think, if you have enough money, you can get away with anything, including murder, and try to sign up all the top players in the world. “Certainly, they have approached a lot of great players. I'm very interested to see where this goes. For us, we’re definitely committed to keeping our top stars. Sign up to our free Indy100 weekly newsletter “We have a great team, we had a great season, one of the best seasons in the history of Fulham, and I'm really excited about this upcoming season.” Fulham owner, GM Tony Khan talks Transfer Day and the Jaguars' reshaped roster | NBC Sports Chicago www.youtube.com In 2018 Jamal Khashoggi, a dissident journalist, was assassinated. He entered the Saudi embassy in Istanbul, Turkey, but never came back out. US intelligence agencies concluded in 2021 that the Saudi government was behind the killing. Since then, oil-rich Saudi Arabia has cranked up the spending on football, partly via its state investment vehicle, the Public Investment Fund, which has taken over four clubs. Human rights groups including Grant Liberty have described the new strategy as “sportswashing”, a bid to use global sport to launder its reputation as the kingdom seeks to increase its soft power abroad. Players including Cristiano Ronaldo, Karim Benzema, N'Golo Kanté, Ruben Neves and Jordan Henderson have agreed to move to the Saudi league in the last year, with the latter four leaving as part of a flurry of transfers into the country at the end of this football season. Meanwhile, Saudi Arabia has dipped into other sports too. The country partnered with WWE (Khan owns rival wrestling company AEW) for multiple shows last year, carried out an audacious takeover of the governing body of golf by launching the new LIV tour, and has hosted major Formula One events. Have your say in our news democracy. Click the upvote icon at the top of the page to help raise this article through the indy100 rankings.

Chinese divers edged closer to another clean sweep at the world championships in Japan on Thursday with their 10th gold medal...

Carlos Rodon blew kisses at fans who heckled him during loss to the Angels.

Australia striker Sam Kerr, who is the face of this Women's World Cup, will miss the opening two matches of the tournament after sustaining a calf injury in training.

Declan Rice “has to be the leader” for title-chasing Arsenal, Wayne Rooney has said. The 24-year-old has completed a £105m switch from West Ham to the Emirates Stadium, immediately jetting off to Washington DC with his new team-mates where they will kick-off their US pre-season tour against the Major League Soccer All-Stars. The DC United boss is managing the hosts and believes Mikel Arteta’s men have secured a vital figure. “I saw Frank Lampard saying he felt Declan could be the Chelsea captain for the next 10 years if he went there,” Rooney said.

Jurgen Klopp has said that 'all decisions are made by me' when discussing Liverpool's pending sale of Jordan Henderson to Saudi Pro League club Al-Ettifaq.