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By Alli Rosenbloom, Dan Heching and Sandra Gonzalez, CNN Liam Payne. Photo: Christopher Polk / Getty Images via AFP Warning: This story contains references to mental health issues and substance abuse As the reality of Liam Payne's death sets in, his family, friends and former One Direction bandmates are still trying to make sense of the devastating loss while authorities press forward in their investigation into the circumstances surrounding Payne's final moments and fatal fall. Payne died Wednesday after falling from the third floor of the CasaSur Palermo Hotel in Buenos Aires, Argentina. He was 31. His death remains under investigation Friday (local time) by local authorities, who are working to determine the nature of Payne's fall as more details begin to emerge. The public prosec...

US Vice President and Democratic presidential candidate Kamala Harris and former US President and Republican presidential candidate Donald Trump. Photo: DUSTIN FRANZ / AFP By Saul Loeb with Frankie Taggart, AFP Kamala Harris questioned Donald Trump's fitness for office Friday as the oldest major-party White House candidate in history faced speculation that he is "exhausted" after backing out of a spate of interviews. While he has been appearing on friendly TV networks, the 78-year-old Republican has cancelled sitdowns with media outlets including NBC, CNBC and CBS. He has also refused a second debate with Harris, after being soundly bested in the first. Politico reported that a Trump aide had told producers at a website negotiating an interview that the ex-president was "exhausted" and ...

A billboard depicting Hamas' slain leader Yahya Sinwar with the Arabic slogan "if Sinwar departs from the battlefields, Palestine will birth a thousand Sinwars", during a rally in Yemen's Houthi-controlled capital Sanaa on 18 October, 2024. Photo: MOHAMMED HUWAIS / AFP Hamas has vowed not to release the hostages seized during its 7 October attack on Israel until the Gaza war ends, as it mourned the death of its leader Yahya Sinwar. The killing of Sinwar, the mastermind of the deadliest attack in Israeli history, had raised hopes of a turning point in the war, including for families of the Israeli hostages and Gazans enduring a dire humanitarian crisis. But Qatar-based Hamas official Khalil al-Hayya, who mourned Sinwar in a video statement, reiterated the Palestinian group's position tha...

Ukraine's president Volodymyr Zelensky gives a press conference on the sideline of a EU summit in Brussels, on 17 October, 2024. Photo: LUDOVIC MARIN / AFP Russia and Ukraine have each swapped 95 prisoners of war in an agreement completed with the United Arab Emirates acting as mediator, the Russian Defence Ministry says. The ministry, in a post on the Telegram messaging app, said the returning Russian service members were undergoing medical checks in Belarus, one of Russia's closest allies in the more than two-and-a-half-year-old war. There was no immediate word of the exchange from Ukrainian authorities. Ukrainian news reports said the returnees included Ukrainian journalist and rights advocate Maksym Butkevych, convicted by a Russian court of shooting at Russian forces. The reports s...

No cause of death was given for either competitor (file image). Photo: 123RF By Sam Joseph, CNN Two athletes have died while participating at the World Triathlon Championships in Spain, the sport's governing body has confirmed. Both competitors - one from Mexico and one from Great Britain - were participating in the sprint category on the first day of competition at the Torremolinos-Andalucia Triathlon Championship Finals. "It is with deep sadness that we can inform that two participants (one from Mexico; one from Great Britain) have died at the World Triathlon Torremolinos-Andalucía AG Sprint Distance World Championships, taking place today, October 17," World Triathlon said in a statement. "Our deepest condolences go to their respective family, friends, National Federations and all th...