Australia's four football codes make a big show of investing in their women's teams and competitions, but their commitment to the cause is under the spotlight amid the coronavirus pandemic, writes Amanda Shalala.

There might be no crowds at the start and finish lines, and drivers would get Zoom briefings, but Targa Australia says it hopes to still deliver its Far North Queensland tarmac rally in September if some restrictions are lifted.

The head of the Australian Olympic Committee says the Gold Coast has a key role to play in south-east Queensland's 2032 bid.

Rugby Australia is prepared to hold crisis talks with a group of disgruntled retired Wallabies captains, who have penned a letter to the governing body claiming the game has "lost its way", while demanding a change in leadership.

Raelene Castle's position as Rugby Australia chief executive is not under review in the wake of the no-confidence letter issued by a group of former Wallabies captains, but the governing body can't guarantee it won't hold discussions down the track.

Raelene Castle says "the sport is bigger than any one individual", resigning after the Rugby Australia board told her it wanted "clear air" without her as chief executive.

Despairing the lack of sport around the globe, Adelaide man Shane Robinson and his mates stumbled upon a Belarus football team, FK Slutsk. Little did they know that just weeks later they would be helping the struggling club to survive.

Rugby Australia chairman Paul McLean defends Raelene Castle's tenure as chief executive, as he calls out the bullying she received from "faceless people" during her time in the job.

The French Grand Prix cancelled its race scheduled for June 28 rather than postponing it, making July 5 the targeted start date at the Austrian GP in Spielberg.

St Kilda's new cult hero Caitlin Greiser is one of 11 first-time selections in the 2020 AFLW All-Australian team after topping the league's goal-kicking chart.

Federal Minister Richard Colbeck says he hopes sport halted by the coronavirus pandemic can get started again, but warns NRL players' misbehaviour threatens a return of play.

The experienced Test batsman is left without a Cricket Australia men's contract, while Tahlia McGrath is added to the women's list following a lengthy absence from the national team.

The New Zealand Warriors will take part in the NRL season, after receiving permission to travel to Australia.

The NRL has declared its intention to come back in four weeks, but the Government wants you to beat them onto the park, court, even bowling green.

The New Zealand Warriors, minus two players, touch down in Australia on a charter flight from Auckland to prepare for the resumption of the NRL season.

Despite more relaxed coronavirus restrictions in South Australia and Western Australia, the AFL says it does not want clubs from those states training in bigger groups until Victorian teams are allowed to do so.

The consensus across football and netball clubs in the west and north-west of Victoria is the season should only start if fans are allowed to attend games.

With many families getting priced out of junior football, one club in Perth is waiving fees, and it could signal a new direction for grassroots sport in Australia, writes Samantha Lewis.

A Victoria Police senior constable from the southern metropolitan area is suspended over the unauthorised leak of photos of former AFL coach Dean Laidley in custody on the weekend. The officer is the second to be suspended over the incident.

Rugby's embattled governing body makes a key short-term appointment, as it continues to search for a full-time replacement for Raelene Castle, who stepped down as chief executive last month.

With the recent flurry of changes in Rugby Australia leadership, confusion increases for those involved with a game already in crisis as concerns continue that an expected loan won't be large enough to help.

The Adelaide Crows will be dealt with in an "educative way rather than a punitive way", police say, after players broke coronavirus quarantine guidelines during a training session.

This swimmer spent years battling endometriosis, an insidious enemy within her own body that consumed her with crippling pain. The fact that most coaches in women's sport are men also didn't help, she says.

The author has been everywhere, in life and fiction. "A Children's Bible" passionately fuses the two: "You've gotta be Chicken Little sooner or later."

Sculptures commemorating plagues were common in Europe. Our art critic suggests America could build its own, and Trump provides inspiration for where.

Florian Schneider, the co-founder of Kraftwerk, the German electronic group that changed the sound of pop music, has died of cancer.

Andrew Ahn's lovely second feature "Driveways" also stars Hong Chau and Lucas Jaye.

The feature directing debut for actor Clark Duke, "Arkansas" amiably places Liam Hemsworth in a dangerous world of low-level criminals.

We chat with two movie vets featured on Disney+'s "Prop Culture": the director of "Honey, I Shrunk the Kids" and the animator of "The Nightmare Before Christmas."

Southern California Best Sellers, May 10, 2020

Amy Jo Burns' novel, "Shiner," illuminates an Appalachia whose men "pray for God to show Himself while our wives wash their husbands' underpants."

L.A. Phil players Jonathan and Cathy Karoly find a new way to share music. "It's a privilege to get to play for people who want to listen," Cathy says.

Milo Ventimiglia, who plays beloved dad Jack Pearson on the NBC drama "This Is Us," discusses life and work in — and after — the coronavirus outbreak.

After 16 years as the frontwoman for Paramore, and following a broken marriage and a lot of therapy, Hayley Williams is releasing her first solo album.

"I managed to rip my Gluteus Maximus to shreds," Queen guitarist Brian May shared on Instagram, along with a photo of himself sporting a mask in the hospital.

The dictionary has added more than 1,700 entries.

Indonesia's government dithered for nearly two months before enacting social restrictions. Tens of thousands could die of COVID-19.

Georgia lifts many coronavirus-related restrictions, allowing gyms, hair salons, tattoo parlors and bowling alleys to reopen Friday.

Colorado, Montana and Tennessee are among states to reopen amid coronavirus outbreak.

Antonia Morales has lived in her historic El Paso neighborhood since 1965 and sees no reason to leave now. Until she and a few other holdouts depart, demolition cannot begin.

In a clinical trial, the drug remdesivir shortened recovery time for patients with advanced cases of COVID-19, the disease caused by the coronavirus.

U.S. intelligence agencies have concluded that the new coronavirus is "not manmade or genetically modified."

A week after Georgia Gov. Brian Kemp plunged Georgia into the middle of a national social experiment — rolling back restrictions on businesses in an effort to restart the economy after a monthlong shutdown to halt the spread of COVID-19 — some restaurants, salons and tattoo parlors remain shuttered. Most that are opening are proceeding cautiously.

Rick Bright, pushed out of a job heading a federal research agency, files a complaint saying he was retaliated against for resisting Trump's plans.

More than two months after an unarmed black man was shot in south Georgia, protesters across America are asking why it took so long for police to investigate.

We are on the precipice of spread COVID-19 from dialysis centers to nursing homes. But there is a safer way to administer this lifesaving care.

Syria's Bashar Assad faces dissent from his rich cousin Rami Makhlouf

Mother's Day weekend will be summery in California and wintery with snow in parts of the East

For many Americans, Arbery's killing harks back to the old Jim Crow days when white mobs hunted black men down and killed them with impunity. In Brunswick, the shooting has sparked an uneasy conversation about race and power.

A tie-up is agreed that will create one of the UK's largest mobile, broadband and media firms.