France

It was an incredible night of drama and fluctuating fortunes, delivering one of the all-time great finals to cap a wonderful tournament.

Argentina had looked to be cruising to a one-sided victory after Messi's penalty and a brilliant goal by Angel Di Maria in the first half put them in total control, but Mbappe converted an 80th-minute penalty and volleyed in an equaliser a minute later to take the game to extra time.

• Theo Hernandez and substitute Randal Kolo Muani score French goals
• Morocco fall just short of becoming first African nation in World Cup final
• Didier Deshamps' team will aim to regain Trophy in Argentina clash

France 2-0 Morocco

Goals: France: Hernandez (5), Kolo Muani (79)

Match review

• Harry Kane scores one penalty but misses another as England crash out
• Tchouameni and Giroud on target to send holders France through
• Neither team deserved to lose a fantastic match full of first-rate football

England 1-2 France

Goals: England - Kane (54' pen); France - Tchouameni (17'), Giroud (78')

France will take on Morocco in the Qatar 2022 semi-finals after a thrilling, topsy-turvy 2-1 win over England at Al Bayt Stadium.

The four-metre male orca was first spotted two weeks ago near the river's mouth, but made its way dozens of miles upstream towards the city of Rouen.

A plan to guide it back to the sea using sound stimuli failed, and experts concluded it was seriously ill.

The authorities had been preparing to euthanise the animal but activists say it died of natural causes.

Environmental campaign group Sea Shepherd tweeted that the orca's corpse was found at 11:48 local time (09:48 GMT) on Monday.

Ministers acknowledged difficulties in managing crowds at the final in Paris, but say organised fraud was the root cause of the problems.

Liverpool ticket-holders were seen waiting in huge queues, with French police later using tear gas on crowds.

The treatment of fans was "an absolute disgrace," one Liverpool fan said.

Tom Whitehurst said he had to get his disabled son "out of the way" after they were pepper-sprayed.

”, which both came from Noumea and stopped over in Port-Moresby at this occasion, participated a few days ago in a regional fisheries policing operation in the PNG Exclusive Economic Zone (EEZ).

Several buildings were set ablaze on both sides of a street in the seaside town of St Laurent-de-la-Salanque after a blast was heard at 01:30 local time (00:30 GMT) on Monday.

Firefighters are still searching for victims in two small blocks of flats damaged by the fire.

The cause of the original explosion is not yet known.

France's Interior Minister Gérald Darmanin, who visited the scene of the accident on Monday afternoon, said the current death toll of seven was only provisional while emergency services continued to search for survivors.

The Prime Minister returned a positive test result for COVID-19 upon arrival in Beijing on Thursday 3^rd January, 2022.

Nonetheless, he has hailed the visit to the People’s Republic of China, a successful one.

The Prime Minister met with Chinese Premier Li Keqiang in an historic Saturday evening virtual meeting.

During this meeting the two leaders reaffirmed and announced a significant list of deliverables which included:

But France, with its 179,807 cases on Tuesday, was not alone in breaking records, as Italy, Greece, Portugal and England all reported record highs too.

The figures could be due in part to reporting delays over Christmas.

Countries had been reporting rises running up the festive period, driven by the more contagious Omicron variant.

More than 96 percent of New Caledonians voted against independence in a referendum boycotted by Kanaks. It was the last of three referendums, which concluded the 1998 Noumea Accord on the territory's decolonisation.

The Accord's provisions on the territory's institutional make-up remain in place until a new statute has been adopted.

While the anti-independence camp and Paris welcomed the referendum result, the pro-independence parties said the vote was bogus and they would not recognise its outcome.