Ireland

The body said it had voted to admit the two nations into the elite group that is permitted to play traditional five-day Test matches.

As new full members of the ICC, Ireland and Afghanistan will take the total of countries playing Tests to 12.

Ireland have moved up one spot following their 50-22 win over Japan while Scotland beat the Wallabies in Sydney 24-19.

Joe Schmidt's Irish side added seven tries to the nine they managed against the USA the week before in Philadelphia as they registered another convincing victory in the second match of their three-game tour of North America and Japan.

Australia are now fourth on the world rankings, just ahead of Scotland.

Scotland leap-frogged South Africa into fifth place.

With leaders Serbia facing Wales in a later kick-off on Sunday, Martin O'Neill's side needed just a point to - temporarily at least - move top of what is proving to be a tightly contested group.

And, despite a flat first-half performance, a late glut of pressure from the hosts resulted in Walters thumping home a deserved equaliser to cancel out Martin Hinteregger's opener.

Shane Duffy thought he had snatched a winner two minutes later, only for the referee to disallow the header for a foul by the defender, who led with a raised arm.

The 38-year-old will become the first gay taoiseach and will also be the country's youngest ever leader.

Mr Varadkar beat his rival, Housing Minister Simon Coveney, with 60% of the votes to lead Fine Gael - the biggest party in the coalition government.

He will succeed Enda Kenny as leader of the centre-right party within weeks.

The former GP is the son of an Irish nurse and a doctor from India and much of the media coverage of his victory has focused on Mr Varadkar's background, age and sexuality.

Traffic ground to a halt in parts of Dublin Wednesday as women and abortion rights activists sang along to Cyndi Lauper's "Girls Just Want to Have Fun" and the Spice Girls' "Wannabe" during a raucous dance party on O'Connell Bridge.

After sundown, a second, separate demonstration -- also in protest of abortion rights -- commenced with Irish police estimating 10,000 to 12,000 people on the capital's streets.

The RLWC2017 is scheduled from October 26-December 2 and will be co-hosted by Australia, New Zealand and PNG.

PNG will host national team Kumuls’ three pool matches at the National Football Stadium (NFS) against Wales (October 28), Ireland (November 5) and the USA (November 12).

RLWC2017 general manager commercial and marketing, Rohan Sawyer, said it’s an exciting year for rugby league in PNG.

Sawyer thanked the Government and Sports Minister Justin Tkatchenko for their support of RLWC2017.

Tries from Iain Henderson and Garry Ringrose helped the hosts to a 17-0 lead but the Wallabies fought back with three touchdowns to move into the lead.

Keith Earls' score proved decisive but it was the Irish forwards who laid the platform in a breathless encounter.

The result ended Australia's hopes of a Grand Slam over the home nations.

They had defeated Wales, Scotland and France and will face England in the final match of their northern hemisphere tour next week.

New Zealand rallied from 30-8 down after 47 minutes to close within four points at 33-29 when center Robbie Henshaw broke their line for Ireland’s fifth and match-winning try in the 76th minute.

Three years ago in Dublin, the All Blacks broke Irish hearts when they rallied from 19-0 down - the biggest comeback in their history - to deny Ireland an historic win with an injury-time try and conversion.

"History in Chicago. The long wait is over." That is how the Irish Independent reported the win, splashing the result large on its website.

"Ireland's class of 2016 stamped their names into the history books as Joe Schmidt's side dispatched New Zealand 40-29 in Chicago," wrote the Irish Times just after the win.

The ABs themselves were gracious in defeat.

And the mood back in Ireland itself was clearly riotous.

Irish fans at a Wellington pub were in an understandably celebratory mood after the match.

Occasional spells of rain failed to dampen the spirits of revellers gathering in central London for a vibrant midnight show featuring about 12,000 fireworks - and producing 50,000 projectiles.

As in previous years, the London Eye was the focal point of the pyrotechnic extravaganza, which could be seen for miles around.

Performers led the crowds in a lively, rock-inspired rendition of Auld Lang Syne as the fireworks came to an end.