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England captain Harry Kane poached a late double for his side to complete a record-setting World Cup qualification campaign with a hard-earned 2-0 victory away to Albania in Group K on Sunday, Reuters reported.

It had looked like England might drop their first points, but Kane tapped home from close range in the 74th minute when Albania failed to deal with a corner.

He then made it 2-0 eight minutes later with a clinical header from substitute Marcus Rashford's deep cross, according to Reuters.

Norway qualified for the 2026 World Cup on Sunday after a 4-1 win away to Italy in their final qualifying match, condemning the hosts, who have missed out on the last two editions of the tournament, to the playoffs, Reuters reported.

Norway ended the qualifying campaign with a perfect record of eight wins, finishing six points ahead of four-times World Cup winners Italy, who will compete in the playoffs for the third consecutive occasion.

Needing a nine-goal win because of Norway’s superior goal difference, the Italians came out full of aggression and made the early breakthrough just after the 10-minute mark, as Francesco Pio Esposito swept in a close-range finish, according to Reuters.

Australian Paralympic gold medalist Paige Greco died at the age of 28 on Sunday, after experiencing what authorities in South Australia state described as a "sudden medical episode" in her Adelaide home, Reuters reported.

Paige, who was born with cerebral palsy, won Australia's first gold medal at the Tokyo 2020 Paralympic Games, setting the world record in the women's C1–3 3,000-metre individual pursuit along with bronze medals in the women's C1–3 road race and time trial.

"Paige meant everything to us," Greco's mother Natalie said in a statement via AusCycling and Paralympics Australia, according to Reuters.

Italy's Jannik Sinner retained his ATP Finals title on Sunday, sending the Turin crowd wild as he battled past Spanish world number one and rival Carlos Alcaraz 7-6(4) 7-5 in the decider to the season-ending championships, Reuters reported.

Sinner, backed by a raucous Italian crowd, fell to the floor after breaking his rival's serve in the final game before racing to celebrate with his team as chants of 'Ole, Ole, Ole, Sinner, Sinner' rang around the Inalpi Arena.

"Finishing in front of the Italian public was a fantastic thing, maybe even better than last year, thank you very much for the support, it was incredible," Sinner said, according to Reuters.

The second edition of the National Premier League (NPL) is taking place at the Kirtipur-based Tribhuvan University Cricket Ground from today onward. 

According to Chairperson of Cricket Association of Nepal (CAN) Chatur Bahadur Chand, the opening of the NPL tournament will be held at 2 pm today while the first match will take place at 4 pm. 

In the NPL to be conducted up to December 13, a total of 32 matches including league stage, three play-off and final will be held. 

There will be 32 matches, including the finals, and since the Tribhuvan University cricket ground has been upgraded with parapets and floodlights, the second edition has become an additional source of excitement among cricket fans. 

In the opening match, the defending champion Janakpur Bolts will take on Kathmandu Gorkhas. 

This time, a parapet accommodating 10,000 audiences has been constructed in the stadium. 

With the floodlights in place, the matches will be conducted at night like in other international stadiums. 

It may be noted that the Ministry had handed over the initial phase structures to the Cricket Association of Nepal through the National Sports Council on Sunday evening before the beginning of NPL second edition. 

CAN informed that the winner of the tournament will be awarded a cash prize of Rs 11 million. 

Similarly, the runner-up team of the tournament will receive the cash award of Rs 5.1 million. The team securing third place will receive Rs 2.5 million while the fourth-placed team will get Rs 1.5 million. 

All matches of the second NPL will be held at the Kirtipur cricket ground. 

Eight franchise teams, including defending champion Janakpur along with previous runner-up Sudurpaschim Royals, Karnali Yaks, Pokhara Avengers, Biratnagar Kings, Chitwan Rhinos, Kathmandu Gurkhas, and Lumbini Lions are competing in the NPL. 

CAN is expected to earn Rs 400 million from the NPL this time, it is shared. 

Ukraine is working to resume prisoner exchanges with Russia that could bring home 1,200 Ukrainian prisoners, President Volodymyr Zelenskyy said Sunday, a day after his national security chief announced progress in negotiations, Associated Press reported.

“We are ... counting on the resumption of POW exchanges,” Zelenskyy wrote on X. “Many meetings, negotiations and calls are currently taking place to ensure this.”

Rustem Umerov, Secretary of Ukraine’s National Security and Defense Council, said Saturday he held consultations mediated by Turkey and the United Arab Emirates on resuming exchanges, according to Associated Press.

India’s anti-terror investigating agency said Sunday it arrested a man from Indian-controlled Kashmir on suspicion of conspiring with a suicide bomber to carry out a deadly car blast in the capital New Delhi, Associated Press reported.

The National Investigating Agency said in a statement that the car that exploded on Monday was registered to Amir Rashid Ali, who it alleged had traveled to New Delhi from Indian-controlled Kashmir to facilitate the purchase of the vehicle. It said Ali’s arrest was a “major breakthrough” in the case.

The explosion killed 10 people and injured 32 others near the city’s historic Red Fort. Indian officials called it a “heinous terror incident” carried out by “anti-national forces.”

Authorities in Iran have sprayed clouds with chemicals to induce rain, in an attempt to combat the country's worst drought in decades, BBC reported.

Known as cloud-seeding, the process was conducted over the Urmia lake basin on Saturday, Iran's official news agency Irna reported.

Urmia is Iran's largest lake, but has largely dried out leaving a vast salt bed. Further operations will be carried out in east and west Azerbaijan, the agency said, according to BBC.