World

As always, the Australian Grand Prix in 2006 was an eclectic buffet of fame and power – with everyone from actress Amanda Bynes to the Dutch Prime Minister, a 70s pop star, and the original Blue Wiggle treading pit lane. Unnoticed in a corner, making small talk with Italian driver Jarno Trulli and former Miss Universe Jennifer…

As China prepared to celebrate its Golden Week holiday and mark the 75th anniversary of the People’s Republic, the ruling Communist Party rolled out a raft of measures aimed at boosting its ailing economy. The plans included help for the country’s crisis-hit property industry, support for the stock market, cash handouts for the poor and more government…

Rescue crews and volunteers facing obstacles at every turn in North Carolina’s remote mountains paddled canoes across swollen rivers and steered horses past mudslides in the rush to reach those stranded or missing by Hurricane Helene’s rampage that killed more than 200 throughout the Southeast. Now a week since the storm first roared onto Florida’s Gulf Coast,…

North Korean leader Kim Jong Un threatened to use nuclear weapons and destroy South Korea permanently if provoked, state media reported Friday, after the South’s leader warned that Kim’s regime would collapse if he attempted to use nuclear arms. The exchange of such rhetoric between the rival Koreas is nothing new, but the latest comments come during…

Dr Mark Chavez is one of five people who have been charged over the Friends star’s death – and the third to plead guilty. A doctor charged in connection with the death of Friends star Matthew Perry has pleaded guilty to a charge of conspiring to distribute the drug ketamine. Dr Mark Chavez appeared in a Los…

A new study found adults in the US were more likely to have high cholesterol and high blood pressure than Britons but 18% of adults in the UK reported their health as poor compared to 12% of American adults. Britons are healthier than Americans but are more likely than their stateside counterparts to think their health is…

A court approved plans for the relocation on “humanitarian and emotional” grounds. The World Cup winner was laid to rest in a private cemetery following his death in November 2020. The remains of Diego Maradona are to be reburied in a new location after the plans were approved by a court in Argentina. It comes after the…

Popular suggestions included Blunty McBluntface, Blames Junt and even James Corden, after the presenter and Gavin & Stacey star. Singer James Blunt has promised to legally change his name to the most popular suggestion from the public – but there’s a catch. The 50-year-old musician vowed that if the re-release of his debut album Back to Bedlam…

R. Kelly’s daughter Joanne Kelly, who appears in the upcoming documentary “R Kelly’s Karma: A Daughter’s Journey,” revealed she has no interest in introducing her future son to his grandfather. “If my son asks questions, I’m going to be as truthful as possible. And I will not be taking my son to prison to meet his grandfather,”…

Sean “Diddy” Combs “stopped inviting” Prince William and Prince Harry to his now-infamous parties once the brothers started settling down, according to a royal expert. “The King” author Christopher Andersen made the claim after the resurfacing of a 2011 interview in which the embattled music mogul chatted about wanting the royals to attend his blowout bashes. “Diddy…

For several years, Masato Kanda hardly slept. “Three hours a night is an exaggeration,” he laughs as he speaks to the BBC from Tokyo. “I slept for three hours consecutively before being woken up but I then went back to bed, so if you add them up, I got a bit more.” So why was this 59…

Donald Trump laid the groundwork to try to overturn the 2020 election even before he lost, knowingly pushed false claims of voter fraud and “resorted to crimes” in his failed bid to cling to power, according to a court filing unsealed Wednesday that offers new evidence from the landmark criminal case against the former president. The filing…

An unexploded U.S. bomb from World War II that had been buried at a Japanese airport exploded Wednesday, causing a large crater in a taxiway and the cancellation of more than 80 flights, Japanese officials said. No one was hurt, and there were no aircraft nearby when the bomb exploded at Miyazaki Airport in southwestern Japan, Land…

Forty-five migrants have died after two ships wrecked sank off the coast of the East African nation of Djibouti with many still missing, a spokesperson for the United Nations migration agency said, opens new tab on Tuesday. The boats left Yemen with 310 people and so far, 32 survivors were rescued, the International Organization for Migration said…

A Singapore court on Thursday sentenced a former minister to 12 months in prison for obstructing justice and receiving more than $300,000 worth of gifts, in the first jailing of an ex-cabinet member in a city-state famous for its clean governance. S. Iswaran, who was a cabinet member for 13 years and has held the trade, communications…

Israel bombed central Beirut early on Thursday, killing at least six people, after its forces suffered their deadliest day on the Lebanese front in a year of clashes with Iran-backed Hezbollah. Israel said it conducted a precise air strike on Beirut. Reuters witnesses reported hearing a massive blast, and a security source said it targeted a building…

Elon Musk secretly funded a conservative political group in recent years, according to four people familiar with his donations, illustrating quiet financial support for right-wing causes even before the billionaire entrepreneur in July endorsed former President Donald Trump’s bid for re-election. Two of the people familiar with the donations told Reuters that Musk’s contributions to the organization,…

The Biden administration says there is a significant difference between Israeli actions that have expanded its war against the Iranian-backed militant groups Hamas and Hezbollah and Iran’s retaliatory missile attack against Israel, which it condemned as escalatory. In carefully calibrated remarks, officials across the administration are defending the surge in attacks by Israel against Hezbollah leaders in…

Major US ports will stay shut until pay demands are met, the union boss representing striking dockworkers has said. Harold Daggett, head of the International Longshoremen’s Association (ILA), made the vow on a picket line in New Jersey on Tuesday, as tens of thousands of dockworkers on the east and gulf coasts walked out in a bid…

Democrat Tim Walz and Republican JD Vance clashed on Tuesday at a vice presidential debate that was surprisingly civil in the final stretch of an ugly election campaign marred by inflammatory rhetoric and two assassination attempts. The two rivals, who have forcefully attacked each other on the campaign trail, mostly struck a cordial tone, instead saving their…

Donald Trump is using the destruction of Hurricane Helene to boost his presidential bid against Kamala Harris, political analysts said on Tuesday, after the Republican candidate spread falsehoods about the federal response during a visit to a storm-hit city. Trump is leveraging the potential political danger of the hurricane to the presidential campaign of Democrat Harris, his…

Michael Ancram served as a senior government minister, party chairman and deputy leader. Michael Ancram, a leading aristocrat who became a Tory MP, senior government minister, party chairman, deputy leader and grandee, has died aged 79 As minister of state for Northern Ireland under John Major, he was an architect in the peace process which eventually led…

Dr Yaser Jabbar no longer works at Great Ormond Street Hospital and has not had a licence to practise medicine in the UK since January. The father of a six-year-old girl who was operated on by former surgeon Dr Yaser Jabbar multiple times over 15 months is among the first to be told she suffered harm during…

On the evidence of a confident, swaggering performance, Mr Cleverly may be muscling his way into the final two candidates who will contest the leadership in the final ballot of Tory members. It was round two of the Tory leadership fireside chats. After “posh boy” Tom Tugendhat and “working class” Kemi Badenoch, it was the turn of…

The Southeastern United States is reeling from Hurricane Helene, a monstrous storm that made landfall in Florida on Thursday before cutting a terrifying path all the way up to Tennessee. How did it get this bad? The storm has killed more than 100 people, and hundreds more are still missing. Power is out for millions of people.…

Congratulations may be in order for Joaquin Phoenix and Rooney Mara. Fans online seem to think the “Joker” star is married to his longtime partner after he referred to her as his “wife” on Sunday’s episode of the “Talk Easy with Sam Fragoso” podcast. As he shared how he crafted his 2020 Oscars speech, the actor revealed…

Tuesday night’s vice-presidential debate between Republican JD Vance and Democrat Tim Walz felt like a civil and relatively restrained conversation about the issues at the top of American voters’ minds going into the 5 November election. In that, it was unlike the two presidential debates earlier this year. The two men spent much more time attacking the…

The UK was eighth among the countries with the highest rates, behind Germany, Portugal, Luxembourg, Norway, Andorra, Denmark and San Marino. Germany’s teenagers and young people have the highest rates of acne in the world, according to a major study, with the UK in eighth place. All of the countries with the highest rates of doctor-diagnosed acne…

The ship was supposed to have a brief stop in Northern Ireland for repairs back in May but unexpected problems left both the vessel and its passengers marooned for months. Cruise ship passengers stranded in Belfast have finally set sail for a round-the-world trip after months marooned in Northern Ireland. The Villa Vie Odyssey was meant to…

China’s sputtering economy has its worried leaders pulling out all the stops. They have unveiled stimulus measures, offered rare cash handouts, held a surprise meeting to kickstart growth and tried to shake up an ailing property market with a raft of decisions – they did all of this in the last week. On Monday, Xi himself spoke…

For Daniel Guerra, an aspiring Brazilian sailor keen to travel the world, the job ad was a dream come true. A British yacht owner was seeking two deck-hands to help sail his boat from Brazil across the Atlantic, one of the great ocean journeys. There would be no salary, but all expenses paid – and, crucially, Mr…

An 81-year-old model fell short in her bid to become the oldest Miss Universe contestant after competing in the South Korean pageant against much younger rivals. Dressed in a beaded white gown, the silver-haired Choi Soon-hwa strutted across the stage and performed in a singing contest at the Miss Universe Korea pageant held Monday at a hotel…

A colossal naked statue of former president Donald Trump emerged alongside a Las Vegas interstate just weeks ahead of the presidential election. Alongside major highway Interstate 15 in Las Vegas, a massive statue of a naked Donald Trump has been turning heads and raising eyebrows. The 43-foot-tall statue, named “Crooked and Obscene,” was assembled over the weekend…

Russian soldiers are desperate to protect themselves from Ukrainian drones that are sowing panic among the ranks. Vladimir Putin’s army is turning to wild animals in a desperate bid to try and counter the threat from Ukrainian drones. Army chiefs are pondering using wolves to help detect the approach of the deadly UAVS. Troops say the animals…

Global investors are preparing to stake bets on China again, in a major sentiment shift sparked by Beijing’s drive to reverse its economic slowdown and revive long term interest in its stock markets. It is early days and few money managers expect a Chinese growth boom anytime soon. But government moves to entice more cash into equities…

Russian President Vladimir Putin ordered the conscription of 133,000 new servicemen in Russia’s autumn draft that starts Oct. 1 and goes until the end of the year, according to a Kremlin decree published on Monday. The decree, published in Russian state-run newspaper Rossiyskaya Gazeta, calls to carry out the draft of citizens “aged 18 to 30 years,…

Crews on Monday airlifted emergency food and water into remote North Carolina towns that were cut off and devastated by tropical storm Helene that turned the western part of the state into a “post apocalyptic” landscape. Helene was a hurricane when it slammed into the Florida Gulf coast on Thursday, tearing a destructive path through southeastern states…

Israel’s widely expected ground invasion of Lebanon appeared to be getting underway early on Tuesday as its military said troops had begun “limited” raids against Hezbollah targets in the border area. The military said in a statement that it had begun “limited, localised, and targeted ground raids based on precise intelligence” against Hezbollah in southern Lebanon villages…

Earth’s moon will soon have some company — a “mini moon.” The mini moon is actually an asteroid about the size of a school bus at 33 feet (10 meters). When it whizzes by Earth on Sunday, it will be temporarily trapped by our planet’s gravity and orbit the globe — but only for about two months.…

She was not back in the bleachers. Taylor Swift was notably absent as the Kansas City Chiefs took on the Los Angeles Chargers at SoFi Stadium on Sunday. The “You Belong With Me” singer, 34, also skipped the team’s match-up against the Atlanta Falcons last weekend. The pop star’s second straight no-show comes amid ongoing criticism of…

Austrian voters handed a first-ever general election victory to the far-right Freedom Party on Sunday, preliminary results showed, illustrating rising support for hard-right parties in Europe fueled by concern over immigration levels. The Eurosceptic, Russia-friendly FPO held a slim lead in opinion polls for months over Chancellor Karl Nehammer’s ruling conservative Austrian People’s Party (OVP) in a…

The Southeastern U.S. began a huge cleanup and recovery effort on Sunday and the death toll climbed towards 100 after Hurricane Helene knocked out power for millions, destroyed roads and bridges and caused dramatic flooding from Florida to Virginia. The storm’s winds, rain and storm surge killed at least 90 people in North Carolina, South Carolina, Georgia,…

Diego Garcia, a remote island in the Indian Ocean, is a paradise of lush vegetation and white-sand beaches, surrounded by crystal blue waters. But this is no tourist destination. It is strictly out of bounds to most civilians – the site of a highly secretive UK-US military base shrouded for decades in rumour and mystery. The island,…

Kris Kristofferson, Country Music Legend and ‘A Star Is Born’ Leading Man, Dies at 88 Kris Kristofferson, who attained success as both a groundbreaking country music singer-songwriter and a Hollywood film and TV star, died Saturday at home in Maui, Hawaii. No cause of death was given, but he was described as passing away peacefully while surrounded…

A lot of us have been there, locked in a metal cylinder flying at more than 500mph (804km/h), gritting our teeth about the armrest the person to the left is hogging. Or the person next to the window who keeps getting up to go to the toilet, or the person in front who has suddenly put their…

Two U.S. airstrikes in Syria killed 37 militants affiliated with the Islamic State group and an al-Qaeda-linked group, the U.S. military said Sunday. It said two of the dead were senior militants. U.S. Central Command said it struck northwestern Syria on Tuesday, targeting a senior militant from the al-Qaeda-linked Hurras al-Deen group and eight others. They say…

If you were in India and had 900,000 rupees ($10,800; £8,000), what would you buy? A car? A trip around the world? Diamond jewellery? Or a Coldplay concert ticket? The British rock band is set to perform three shows of their Music of the Spheres world tour in Mumbai next year and the tickets are being sold…

Lebanon is a country that knows war all too well. And it is not eager for more. It still bears the scars of 15 years of civil war between 1975 and 1990, and of the last war between Hezbollah and Israel in 2006. But for some, including Beirut’s Governor Marwan Abboud, Israel’s recent escalation already feels worse.…

SpaceX launched a rescue mission for the two stuck astronauts at the International Space Station on Saturday, sending up a downsized crew to bring them home but not until next year. The capsule rocketed into orbit to fetch the test pilots whose Boeing spacecraft returned to Earth empty earlier this month because of safety concerns. The switch…

Emergency crews are racing to rescue people trapped in flooded homes after Hurricane Helene struck the coast of Florida as a highly destructive Category 4 storm. At least 52 people have been killed after Hurricane Helene barrelled its way across the southeastern US, causing billions of dollars of destruction. Emergency crews raced to rescue people trapped in…

Jerri MacDonald tells how her dream job on the former Harrods owner’s private jet turned into a nightmare. A former flight attendant for Mohamed al Fayed’s private airline has claimed he sexually assaulted her and had her sacked for refusing to sleep with him. Jerri MacDonald was 28 when she moved from Cheshire to the South East…

At least 66 people have been killed in Nepal since early on Friday as persistent downpours triggered flooding and landslides, closing major roads and disrupting domestic air travel, officials said on Saturday. The death toll could rise, they added, with another 69 people reported missing, and 60 injured since Friday morning, home ministry official Dil Kumar Tamang…

At six people were killed and 10 injured on Saturday by bomb explosions in Somalia’s capital Mogadishu and a town in the country’s Middle Shabelle region, police and witnesses said. It was not immediately clear who had carried out the attacks, although Islamist militant group al Shabaab frequently orchestrates bombings and gun attacks in Mogadishu and elsewhere…

Russia attacked a hospital in Sumy in northeastern Ukraine early on Saturday, killing 10 people and injuring at least 22 others, Ukrainian officials said. Danielle Bell, head of the U.N. Human Rights Monitoring Mission in Ukraine, said “loitering munitions” – or suicide drones – hit the Saint Panteleimon Clinical Hospital in two attacks 45 minutes apart. “Most…

In the wake of Sayyed Hassan Nasrallah’s killing, Hezbollah faces the enormous challenge of plugging the infiltration in its ranks that allowed its arch enemy Israel to destroy weapons sites, booby-trap its communications and assassinate the veteran leader, whose whereabouts had been a closely guarded secret for years. Nasrallah’s killing in a command HQ on Friday came…

Saudi Arabia has carried out its highest number of executions in over three decades after three executions announced Saturday took the 2024 figure to 198, according to an AFP tally. The Gulf monarchy executed the third highest number of prisoners in the world after China and Iran in 2023, according to Amnesty International. This surpassed its previous…

Already the longest-lived of the 45 men to serve as U.S. president, Jimmy Carter is about to reach the century mark. The 39th president, who remains under home hospice care, will turn 100 on Tuesday, Oct. 1, celebrating in the same south Georgia town where he was born in 1924. Here are some notable markers for Carter,…

Former president warns he’ll retaliate against internet giant over his baseless accusations Donald Trump on Friday accused Google of revealing only “bad stories” about him and vowed to prosecute the tech giant if he gets back in the White House. Trump provided no support for his accusation in a post on Truth Social, in which he also…

Iran’s supreme leader has said the death of Hezbollah leader Hassan Nasrallah “will not go unavenged”, a day after he was killed in an Israeli air strike in Lebanon. Ayatollah Ali Khamenei announced five days of mourning in Iran in response to what he called the “martyrdom of the great Nasrallah”, describing him as “a path and…

Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei has been taken to a secure location inside Iran amid heightened security, sources told Reuters, a day after Israel killed the head of Iran-backed Lebanese group Hezbollah in a strike on Beirut. The move to safeguard Iran’s top decision-maker is the latest show of nervousness by the Iranian authorities as Israel launched…

Following days of questions over whether the pair would sit down together, Mr Trump praised the Ukrainian president, saying he had a “very good relationship” with him, but added he also had a “very good relationship” with Vladimir Putin. Donald Trump has met Volodymyr Zelenskyy face to face after the former US president complained this week the…

Justice for Harrods Survivors say they have received more than 200 calls and messages from around the world about the late billionaire. Lawyers acting for alleged victims of Mohamed al Fayed have said more than 60 “survivors” have now come forward. The Justice for Harrods Survivors group – planning legal action against the luxury department store –…

From disinformation campaigns to soaring scepticism, plummeting trust and economic slumps, the global media landscape has been hit with blow after blow. World News Day, taking place on Saturday with the support of hundreds of organisations including AFP, aims to raise awareness about the challenges endangering the hard-pressed industry. – ‘Broken business model’ – In 2022, UNESCO…

King Charles paid tribute to her “warmth and wit”, Harry Potter co-star Daniel Radcliffe called her a “legend”, while Whoopi Goldberg said she was “one of a kind”. Dame Maggie Smith, known for her roles in Harry Potter and Downton Abbey, has died at the age of 89, her sons have said. Her children Chris Larkin and…

What will happen to Earth when our Sun burns out? A newly discovered planetary system 4,000 light-years away might hold the answer, showing an Earth-like world orbiting the remnant of a star like our Sun. Imagine Earth not as the vibrant, life-sustaining oasis we know but as a frozen, desolate world orbiting the faint ember of what…

Imagine being able to see right through your skin to watch your muscles or organs in action. It sounds like science fiction, but a group of scientists at Stanford University were recently able to make the skin of live mice appear transparent – at least under certain light conditions. This breakthrough has unquestionably opened up new possibilities…

Here’s the thing about asking investors for money: they want to see returns. OpenAI launched with a famously altruistic mission: to help humanity by developing artificial general intelligence. But along the way, it became one of the best-funded companies in Silicon Valley. Now, the tension between those two facts is coming to a head. Weeks after releasing…

Pop star Lana Del Ray has ended weeks of speculation by reportedly marrying her alligator tour guide boyfriend, Jeremy Dufrene, in Louisiana. The couple applied for a marriage licence on Monday in the Lafourche parish of the state, south of New Orleans. The star used her legal name Elizabeth Woodridge Grant on the document, according to records…

A pair of paintings by Dutch master Vincent van Gogh at London’s National Gallery were vandalized Friday when a group of climate activists splattered what appeared to be tomato soup on them, shortly after two other activists were sentenced over a similar attack two years ago. The paintings from Van Gogh’s “Sunflowers” series, which the artist painted…

Members of Pakistan’s chess contingent held India’s flag at 2024 Olympiad. The video of the incident has gone viral. India’s victorious campaign at the Chess Olympiad 2024 went down in history as one of the country’s biggest sporting achievements. Both the men’s women’s teams claimed the top podium spots in their respective categories, earning a rare double…

The clash began when security forces, acting on intelligence about terrorist activity, launched an operation in Adigam village. During a house-to-house search, the terrorists opened fire, prompting security forces to retaliate. The exchange of gunfire continued as the forces attempted to neutralise the threat. Three Army personnel and one police officer were reportedly injured in a gunbattle…

The 89-year-old won her first Oscar for The Prime of Miss Jean Brodie in 1969 and went on to win several Golden Globes and BAFTAs throughout her long career. Dame Maggie Smith was a highly versatile actress whose repertoire ranged from Shakespeare to Harry Potter and Downton Abbey. She won her first Oscar for The Prime Of…

Democratic Vice President Kamala Harris visited the U.S.-Mexico border for the first time in her 2024 presidential campaign on Friday, calling for tighter asylum restrictions and vowing to make stopping fentanyl from entering the U.S. a “top priority.” Harris outlined her plans to fix “our broken immigration system” in Douglas, Arizona, a border town of fewer than…

The U.S. Justice Department on Friday unsealed criminal charges accusing three members of Iran’s Revolutionary Guards Corps of hacking Donald Trump’s presidential campaign and trying to disrupt the Nov. 5 election. The indictment is the latest effort by the Biden administration to counter foreign efforts to interfere in the election between former President Trump, a Republican, and…

Authorities in Russia have said that Kyiv has fired drones into Russian regions bordering Ukraine in attacks that follow Vladimir Putin’s suggestion he wants to change the criteria for Moscow to use nuclear weapons. Often without claiming direct responsibility, Ukraine has increased its drone strikes on Russian military facilities to hurt Moscow’s war machine. The latest incidents…

A former staffer of the Duchess of Sussex says ‘Every ten minutes, I had to go outside to be screamed at by her and Harry, and it went on for a couple of hours’ Meghan Markle is described as a generous boss who gives gifts like dog leashes and skincare products, making her staff feel valued, according…

Naomi Campbell has been disqualified from being a trustee after the Charity Commission found serious mismanagement of finances at charity Fashion for Relief. The supermodel, 54, was one of the charity’s three trustees who have been disqualified following a regulator’s probe. The disqualification will be effective for five years. During the inquiry, the charity Commission discovered that…

The Indian government has slashed its goal to create thousands of new tribunals to try sex crimes speedily after states like West Bengal, where the recent brutal rape-homicide of a doctor shook the nation, fell far short of targets, according to three federal government officials and an internal document seen by Reuters. Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s government…

Alabama executed convicted murderer Alan Miller on Thursday in the second-ever nitrogen-asphyxiation execution since the state pioneered the method which it says is less painful than lethal injections but human rights experts say may amount to torture. The 65-year-old shook, pulled against restraints and gasped for breath for several minutes before dying, journalists who witnessed the execution…

Elon Musk hit back at Britain on Thursday after reports that he had not been invited to the country’s upcoming investment summit, alleging the government was releasing convicted paedophiles while imprisoning people over social media posts. The BBC reported that the U.S. billionaire had not been invited to the summit next month after his posts on his…

The UK prime minister spoke to the United Nations General Assembly and called for Israel and Hezbollah to “step back from the brink”. Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu earlier said news of a potential ceasefire deal were “not true”. Sir Keir Starmer has called for Israel and Hezbollah to agree to a ceasefire, saying “escalation serves no…

A 3,600-year-old coffin was opened in the Xiaohe Cemetery in Xinjiang, China, during an excavation in 2003 – 21 years later, a team found a substance identified as kefir cheese. The world’s oldest piece of cheese has been discovered – found laid across a mummy’s neck. A 3,600-year-old coffin was opened in the Xiaohe Cemetery in Xinjiang,…