Blog

About 400 firefighters are fighting bushfires in the Australian state of Victoria, and some residents have been told to leave immediately. (File photo). Photo: AFP/ James Ross Bushfires in Australia's Victoria state burnt out of control on Saturday, with authorities issuing an evacuation order at the highest danger rating for hundreds of residents in the state's west. The alert was for an area near the Grampians National Park, about 241km west of state capital Melbourne, and included rural towns such as Halls Gap, population 495. "Leaving immediately is the safest option, before conditions become too dangerous," Victoria's emergency services agency said on its website. One of the blazes, sparked on Tuesday by lightning strikes, spread overnight and had now burnt through more than 28,000...

By Richard Cowan, Bo Erickson, Andy Sullivan and Katharine Jackson, Reuters The US Capitol Hill Christmas Tree, in Washington DC, on 3 December. Photo: AFP/ Getty - Kevin Dietsch The US House of Representatives has approved a government funding bill on a bipartisan basis The bill now goes to the Democratic-majority Senate The measure does not include Trumps' demand to lift the country's debt ceiling The bill includes funding for storm-hit states and for farmers The Republican-controlled US House of Representatives passed legislation on Friday that would avert a midnight government shutdown, defying President-elect Donald Trump's demand to also greenlight trillions of dollars in new debt. Next, the Democratic-controlled Senate would need to pass the bill to ensure the government w...

New Zealand support has arrived in Vanuatu after this week's earthquake. Photo: RNZ / Koroi Hawkins Boarding has started for New Zealand's last repatriation flight from Port Vila after Tuesday's magnitude 7.3 earthquake. Passengers heading home on the RNZAF Boeing 757 on Saturday afternoon include stranded tourists of various nationalities, returning disaster response officials and media. Staff at the Port Vila's Bauerfield International Airport International Airport said repairs to the quake-damaged international terminal were ongoing. The intention was to resume commercial airline services on Monday, but for now flights remained suspended. Fiji Airways, Qantas, Jetstar and Solomon Airlines were all interested in resuming flights, Jason Rakau, CEO of Airports Vanuatu, told RNZ. Aid ...

By Emma Tucker, CNN Luigi Mangione, suspect in the killing of UnitedHealthcare CEO Brian Thompson, arrives at a heliport in New York City with NYPD officers. Photo: SPENCER PLATT / Getty Images via AFP It was writings laid bare in a notebook found in Luigi Mangione's possession, authorities say, that would help investigators build the federal case against him - a well-planned homicide that involved stalking the movements of his alleged victim, UnitedHealthcare CEO Brian Thompson. An entry dated 15 August, reads: "the details are finally coming together," according to a federal complaint unsealed Thursday. "I'm glad - in a way - that I've procrastinated," Mangione allegedly wrote, saying it gave him time to learn more about the company he was targeting, whose name was redacted by pros...

A group of schoolchildren boarding a military aircraft to be repatriated to New Caledonia after the Vanuatu earthquake. Photo: Supplied / French Embassy in Vanuatu Twenty New Caledonian children who suffered the shock of Port Vila's 7.3 magnitude earthquake have been repatriated from Vanuatu onboard a French military CASA aircraft. The special operation was conducted on Thursday, as part of relief operations conducted by the Nouméa-based French Armed Forces in New Caledonia in response to the destructive quake that shook the Vanuatu capital, where several buildings have collapsed. The group of children, from Northern New Caledonia (Népoui, Koné, Pouembout, and Poia), are aged between 8 and 14. They were visiting Vanuatu as part of a holiday camp organised by their sports association. Th...

By Wladimir Pantaleone and Angelo Amante, Reuters Matteo Salvini. Photo: AFP Protecting borders is not a crime, League party chief says PM Meloni vows to continue fight against illegal immigration Anti-immigrant parties, Musk, supported Salvini A court on Friday acquitted Italian Deputy Prime Minister Matteo Salvini of charges of kidnapping over 100 migrants aboard a boat he had blocked at sea for nearly three weeks in 2019, as part of a policy to curb irregular arrivals. After a three-year trial, judges rejected a prosecutor's request to hand a six-year jail term to Salvini, the leader of the far-right League party, who is serving as transport minister in Giorgia Meloni's government. "I'm happy. After three years, common sense won, the League won, Italy won," Salvini told repor...

By Catherine Nicholls, Frederik Pleitgen, Avery Schmitz, Lauren Kent and Benjamin Brown, CNN Police and rescue personnel cordon off the area next to a Christmas market, where a car crashed into a crowd killing and injuring people in Magdeburg. Photo: Doerthe HEIN / DPA / AFP At least two people are dead and dozens are injured after a car plowed into a crowd at a Christmas market in the German city of Magdeburg, according to local authorities. At least 68 people were injured in the Magdeburg Christmas market attack, including 15 people with serious injuries, according to a statement posted on the city of Magdeburg's Facebook page. An adult and toddler were killed in the attack and the suspected driver has been arrested, the regional Prime Minister of Saxony-Anhalt, Reiner Haseloff, sa...

By Lianne Kolirin, CNN The amulet was discovered on the site of the Roman city of Nida, close to modern-day Frankfurt. Photo: Archaeologisches Museum Frankfurt A small silver amulet discovered by archaeologists in Germany could transform our understanding of how Christianity spread under the Roman Empire, experts have said. The tiny artefact, which measures about 3.6cm long, was unearthed in a third-century Roman grave just outside Frankfurt back in 2018. Archaeologists discovered it on the skeleton of a man buried in a cemetery in the Roman city of Nida, one of the largest and most important sites in the central German state of Hesse. However, it has taken until now for researchers to be able to examine a thin silver foil that was found inside it. Alongside other artefacts in the gr...

By Catherine Nicholls, Frederik Pleitgen, Avery Schmitz and Benjamin Brown, CNN Police and rescue personnel cordon off the area next to a Christmas market, where a car crashed into a crowd killing and injuring people in Magdeburg. Photo: Doerthe HEIN / DPA / AFP At least one person has died and dozens are injured after a car plowed into a crowd at a Christmas market in the German city of Magdeburg, according to local authorities. Between 60 to 80 people were injured in the attack, fire and emergency services told CNN. According to local public broadcaster MDR, police have said that the driver of the car that plowed through the crowd has been arrested. Footage from social media, verified by CNN, shows the moment a black car drove directly into the crowd at the busy Christmas market. I...