The 33-year-old Real Madrid forward's individual brilliance has glossed over Portugal's dour performances in their first two matches and Fernando Santos's side have mostly appeared like a one-man team.
Images from Wednesday's football World Cup qualifiers.
Roger Federer advanced to the Kooyong Classic final after a tight 6-3, 3-6, 7-6 victory over Spain's Fernando Verdasco on Thursday.
Behold the breathtaking winning and shortlisted images from one of the world's most prestigious photography contests. The amazing shots are from the open competition of the Sony World Photography Awards 2020, which received 193,000 entries from photographers in over 200 territories. Scroll down and feast your eyes on our pick of the shortlisted and category-winning entries.
Fascinating places with bad reputations: These places may have a bad rap -- but we think you'll have a great (and safe) vacation!
Lleyton Hewitt has been recalled to lead Australia's Davis Cup team in their Asia/Oceania first round tie in Thailand next month.
Swede Robin Soderling built on the momentum that allowed him to beat Rafael Nadal and reached the French Open semi-finals on Tuesday with a 6-1, 6-3, 6-1 drubbing of Russian 10th seed Nikolay Davydenko.
IndiGo will seek board approval for Dutta's appointment soon. Till then, promoter Rahul Bhatia will continue to act as interim CEO.
Arsenal trio Alexis Sanchez, Danny Welbeck and Tomas Rosicky will miss next week's Premier League Asia Trophy.
Have you ever wondered why "daddy" and "mommy" are often a baby's first words? Well, a group of researchers has got the answer: the newborn's brain may simply be hard-wired to recognize certain repeated word patterns.
Barcelona have launched a campaign in support of Lionel Messi and his father Jorge after the Argentine pair were sentenced to prison terms this week over tax fraud.
Inter Milan have completed the signing of Brazil centre back Miranda from Atletico Madrid as they look to shore up a defence that struggled during a disappointing 2014-15 season.
Diego Maradona enjoyed a winning start as Argentina coach with victory over Scotland on Wednesday while Marcello Lippi equalled a world record in charge of Italy. Among the pick of the other friendlies in Europe, a late header from captain John Terry earned England a 2-1 win against old foes Germany, European champions Spain swept Chile aside 3-0 and Robin van Persie's brace helped the Netherlands beat Sweden 3-1.
India-born Lakshminarayanan Mahadevan of Harvard University and Enrique Cerda Villablanca of Chile University have received the 2007 Ig Nobel Prize at Harvard University in Cambridge, Massachusetts
India, backed by a large number of UN member states, has firmly rejected the suggestion that the 15-strong Security Council be expanded only in the non-permanent category with a provision for review after 10 years, seeking increase in membership in both segments.
Astronomers have discovered a batch of three 'super-Earths' orbiting a nearby star, and two other solar systems with small planets as well, which suggests that Earth-like planets may be very common.
India start their Olympic Qualifier hockey tournament in Santiago, Chile against Mexico on March 1.
Rafael Nadal needed only 34 minutes on Saturday to complete a 7-6, 7-6, 6-0 win over Chile's Fernando Gonzalez in their rain-disrupted quarter-final at the US Open. Nadal was leading 7-6, 6-6 and 3-2 up in the tiebreak when showers halted play on Thursday and with Friday's proceedings completely washed out, the Spanish third seed was in no mood to hang around.
The 'wounds' of 2014 will probably never heal, concedes Lionel Messi but the Argentine superstar is hopeful that 2018 will bring with it the World Cup that football 'owes' him.
Forget Wimbledon or the French Open, Juan Martin del Potro wants to win the US Open more than any other tournament in the world. 'My dream is to win this tournament,' the soft-spoken Argentine said after stopping Marin Cilic 4-6, 6-3, 6-2, 6-1 on Thursday to reach the semi-finals at Flushing Meadows.
Barcelona's last Champions League triumph came in 2015, and since then they have failed to get beyond the quarter-finals while Real Madrid have monopolised the trophy.
Melbourne man McNamara won five singles titles and 19 in doubles and teamed up with compatriot Paul McNamee to win the Australian Open doubles in 1979 and Wimbledon twice in 1980 and 1982.
The International Hockey Federation (FIH) has decided not to take any action against Joaquim Carvalho for his criticism of umpiring in the Chile Olympic Qualifiers, saying it was satisfied with the explanation given by the Indian coach.
"I met a warm person and a close friend. I availed of the opportunity to compliment Bachelet on the distinction of being the first executive woman President of this great country. Her commitment to democracy and social justice stands out. I have conveyed an invitation for her to visit India and I am very pleased that she has accepted," a smiling Patil said after meeting the socialist leader on Monday.
Even as domestic passenger car sales declined 29.4 per cent between April and August this year, exports grew 6.5 per cent, partially cushioning the blow from slowing sales.
Here's a glimpse of all that happened around the world last week.
The FIFA legends, including World Cup winner Frenchman Marcel Desailly, Colombian great Carlos Valderrama, Spain's Fernando Morientes, Mexican Jorge Campos and Nigerian Emmanuel Amuneke, will roll back the years and turn out for a short match at the D Y Patil Stadium in Navi Mumbai.
List of Australian Open men's singles champions since the event began in 1905 (Australian unless stated):
Eighth seed Gael Monfils upset number two Fernando Gonzalez of Chile 6-3, 7-6 on Friday to advance to the semi-finals of the Vienna Open. The 22-year-old Frenchman put in a gutsy performance, saving seven out of eight break points before dominating the tiebreak 7-2. Monfils, a former junior world number one, is through to his fourth semi-final of the year but is yet to reach a final in 2008.
Indian firms feared they would lose business if US ratified the Trans-Pacific Partnership agreement with 11 other countries.
Former Olympian Pargat Singh has been named the Indian team's manager for the Azlan Shah hockey tournament in Ipoh, Malaysia.
Robinho turned up for training with Brazil in a helicopter on Wednesday following his transfer deadline-beating move to Manchester City.
With an eye on increasing south-south cooperation, President Pratibha Patil ended her maiden visit to Latin American countries during which nine agreements were signed with Chile, Brazil and Mexico and a special emphasis was laid on increasing the connectivity. The visit of 73-year-old Patil was also used to muster support for India's candidature for the permanent membership to the United Nations Security Council.
James Blake blew his gold medal chance in the men's singles on Friday, then accused Chile's Fernando Gonzalez of trampling over the Olympic ideals.
The 65-year-old South African says those who raise such obstacles are talking rubbish.
Roger Federer battled into the quarter-finals of the ATP event in Indian Wells on Wednesday with a 6-3, 5-7, 6-2 victory over Fernando Gonzalez of Chile. Fourth seed Andy Murray cruised into the last eight when his opponent Tommy Robredo retired with a right wrist injury. The Scot, who was leading 6-2, 3-0 when Robredo quit, will meet either Croat Ivan Ljubicic or Russian Igor Andreev.
Roger Federer felled big-serving Croat Ivo Karlovic 7-6, 6-3 on Monday to reach the fourth round of the ATP event in Indian Wells. The Swiss world number two, aiming to win the title for the fourth time, snatched the first set on a tiebreak and broke once in the second to clinch victory.
Prabhjot Singh scored three goals as the eight-time Olympic champions cleared their first hurdle with an 8-0 win.
India begins its campaign in the six-team Olympic hockey qualifier with a match against Russia on Saturday. Joaquim Carvalho's team is hoping to win the match by a big margin to avoid the pitfalls of goal difference coming into play in the latter stages of the tournament.
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