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By Francesco Fontemaggi, Stuart Williams and Alice Hackman for AFP Emmanuel Macron has adopted a defiant tone in an address to the nation, promising to see out his full term as France's president. Photo: Xose Bouzas / Hans Lucas via AFP President Emmanuel Macron on Thursday vowed to name a new prime minister in the coming days to prevent France from sliding deeper into political turmoil, rejecting growing pressure from the opposition to resign. Macron adopted a defiant tone in an address to the nation, seeking to limit an escalating political crisis after Prime Minister Michel Barnier's government was ousted in a historic no-confidence vote. Contemporary France's shortest-serving premier, Barnier resigned after Wednesday's parliamentary defeat in a standoff over the budget forced his...

Photo: 123rf Bitcoin has more than doubled this year Trump on Wednesday picked pro-crypto Paul Atkins to lead SEC Elon Musk, a major Trump ally, supports cryptocurrencies Crypto-related stocks have surged Bitcoin catapulted above US$100,000 (NZ$170,000) for the first time on Thursday (US time), a milestone hailed even by sceptics as a coming-of-age for digital assets as investors bet on a friendly US administration to cement the place of cryptocurrencies in financial markets. Once it broke US$100,000 in Thursday's Asian morning, boosted by US President-elect Trump's nomination of pro-crypto Paul Atkins to run the Securities and Exchange Commission, it was soon at an all-time high of US$103,619 (NZ$176,000). It last fetched US$101,139 ($NZ172,000), up about 3.2 percent on the day. T...

Photo: USGS/Supplied A magnitude 7 earthquake has hit off the northern California coast, prompting a tsunami warning for a large stretch of the California and Oregon coasts, though it has since been lifted. The tsunami warning was lifted about 9am, when the possible tsunami was predicted to arrive. Some 4.7 million residents of California and Oregon were under the tsunami warning, the National Weather Service said. The quake, which hit at a shallow depth of 10 km, was centred about 39 miles west of the town of Ferndale, a sparsely populated portion of the northern California coast, the US Geological Survey said. The Zoo has closed due to national weather emergency and tsunami warning. Guests have been evacuated, animals secured and staff have moved to higher ground.— San Francisco Zoo &...

By Kirsty Needham, Reuters Five Eyes intelligence partners were being warned about the radicalisation of young "digital natives". Photo: CAIA IMAGE/SCIENCE PHOTO LIBRARY One in five priority counter-terrorism cases investigated by Australia involved youth, the country's spy chief said on Friday, as the Five Eyes intelligence partners warned about the radicalisation of young "digital natives". Mental health, education and social services needed to intervene in many cases before the behaviour of minors became a police issue, said a research paper by the Five Eyes, which also include the US, Canada, Britain and New Zealand. "Around 20 percent of ASIO's priority counter-terrorism cases involve young people. In every one of the terrorist attacks, disruptions and suspected terrorist incide...