Sunday, January 18

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Sniper shot Trump gunman’s weapon and delayed him – report
World News

Sniper shot Trump gunman’s weapon and delayed him – report

By George Sandeman & Brandon Drenon, BBC News Former US President Donald Trump shortly after the assassination attempt. Photo: JEFF SWENSEN / AFP / GETTY A police sniper potentially saved lives by shooting the rifle of Donald Trump's would-be assassin and knocking him down, an investigation says. According to a report by Louisiana Congressman Clay Higgins, the sniper's bullet damaged Thomas Matthew Crooks's gun and disrupted his aim after he took his first shots in Butler, Pennsylvania. Moments later, a Secret Service sniper killed him. Read more: The report comes as the Secret Service temporarily reassigns some bodyguards from President Joe Biden to Trump, according to US media. Trump will also be given bulletproof glass protection to allow him to resume outdoor rallies. The fo...
Israeli strike kills at least 17 Palestinians in central Gaza, health officials say
World News

Israeli strike kills at least 17 Palestinians in central Gaza, health officials say

By Nidal Al-Mughrabi, Ramadan Abed and Jaidaa Ahmad for Reuters Palestinians inspect the site of an Israeli strike in al-Zawayda in the central Gaza Strip on 17 August. Photo: MAJDI FATHI / NurPhoto via AFP At least 17 Palestinians have been killed and dozens wounded in an Israeli strike in the central Gaza town of Zawayda, health officials say, as Israel issued new evacuation orders, citing Hamas rocket fire nearby. Israel also announced the names of two soldiers Israeli media reported were killed on Saturday afternoon when a roadside bomb exploded in the central Gaza Strip, and an air strike in the occupied West Bank that it said killed two senior Hamas militants involved in the killing of an Israeli. The violence occurred before US Secretary of State Antony Blinken was expected to...
US election: Trump says Harris easier than Biden to beat as race for Pennsylvania heats up
World News

US election: Trump says Harris easier than Biden to beat as race for Pennsylvania heats up

By Nathan Layne and Joseph Ax, Reuters Photo: Michael M. Santiago/Getty Images/AFP Republican presidential candidate Donald Trump says he believes Democrat Kamala Harris will be easier to beat than President Joe Biden even as some polls show her edging ahead in the race for the 5 November presidential election. Trump, the former president, spoke on Saturday (local time) at a rally in Wilkes-Barre in northeastern Pennsylvania, a state looming large in the campaign. Vice President Harris will conduct a bus tour of western Pennsylvania starting in Pittsburgh on Sunday, ahead of the kickoff of the Democratic National Convention on Monday in Chicago. "I believe she will be easier to beat than him," said Trump, referring to her as "radical" and a "lunatic". Trump has sought to portray Har...
Indiana Jones’s Temple of Doom hat sells for more than $1 million
World News

Indiana Jones’s Temple of Doom hat sells for more than $1 million

Photo: Photo12 via AFP The hat worn by actor Harrison Ford in the second instalment of the Indiana Jones film franchise has sold for over $US600,000 at auction. The brown felt fedora - specifically made for the Temple of Doom film - fetched $US630,000 ($NZD1.040 million) in Los Angeles on Thursday. Other items of movie memorabilia were sold at the same time including props from Star Wars, Harry Potter and James Bond productions. Jones, an adventuring archaeologist, is seen with the hat early on in the movie where he and his companions jump from a crashing plane in an inflatable raft. During the scene, he is on board a plane with nightclub singer Wilhelmina "Willie" Scott, played by Kate Capshaw, and his 12-year-old friend Short Round, played by Ke Huy Quan, while escaping the clutches of...
Mpox vaccine procurement in Africa key to contain outbreak: Report
Health

Mpox vaccine procurement in Africa key to contain outbreak: Report

Mpox vaccine procurement for at-risk populations across Africa is crucial to contain the deadly outbreak and save lives, according to a report on Friday.  The report by GlobalData, a data and analytics company, noted that while Mpox vaccines played an important role in containing the 2022 mpox outbreak in high-income nations, “none are currently widely available in Africa”. Bavarian Nordic’s MVA-BN vaccine (Jynneos/Imvanex) -- approved in the US, Europe, and Canada -- is the leading mpox vaccine worldwide. In addition, KM Biologics’ LC16 vaccine is available in Japan and Emergent BioSolutions’ ACAM2000 is also under regulatory review for mpox in the US. Fiona Chisholm, Associate Director of Infectious Diseases at GlobalData, called for a coordinated international response to put “press...
Israeli strike in Lebanon kills 10, health ministry says
World News

Israeli strike in Lebanon kills 10, health ministry says

By Hugo Bachega in Beirut and Aleks Phillips in London, BBC News A man inspects the damage to a building after an Israeli strike in the southern town of Kfour, in the Nabatiyeh district on 17 August. Photo: MAHMOUD ZAYYAT / AFP An Israeli air strike in southern Lebanon has killed 10 people, Lebanese officials say, in one of the deadliest attacks in the current violence along the Lebanon-Israel border. The building hit, in the city of Nabatieh, was housing Syrian refugees, the Lebanese Health Minister, Firass Abiad, told the BBC. Israel said it had targeted a Hezbollah weapons depot, which was denied by the owner of the facility. In response Hezbollah, the Iranian-backed militia and political Lebanese group, fired a barrage of rockets, targeting a kibbutz in northern Israel and anothe...
Bubble skirts are the perfect late summer investment piece to add to your wardrobe
Life Style

Bubble skirts are the perfect late summer investment piece to add to your wardrobe

I have a theory. Whenever you want to predict an upcoming trend, simply look to the fashion archives of the last 50 years and wait until you feel the need to proclaim “That will never come back into fashion!” Then fire up Vinted, because you’ve got next year’s fashion staple sorted. The latest piece of supporting evidence for my theory? Puffball skirts, or ‘bubble’ skirts - the kind you’d see in one of the less-coveted pictures of Princess Diana from the 1980s, a Cyndi Lauper costume, or perhaps a bad sitcom’s take on a retro prom. But now they’re looking perfectly at home on models, influencers and all-round London trendy types setting the standard for the months to come. Luckily not all bubble skirts are made equal, so as much as the mini puffballs are in fashion for these last few warme...
Champion racehorse Black Caviar dies a day before her 18th birthday following laminitis disease
World News

Champion racehorse Black Caviar dies a day before her 18th birthday following laminitis disease

Strapper Donna Fisher parades Australian racehorse Black Caviar in the mounting yard for the last time during her farewell at Caulfield Racecourse in Melbourne in April 2013. Photo: AFP / Paul Crock Champion racehorse Black Caviar has died a day before her 18th birthday. A statement on Saturday on behalf of Black Caviar's owners announced the death. The Australian star captivated the nation and retired in 2013 with 25 wins from 25 starts, taking AU$7,953,936 (NZ$8,762,443) in prize money. "She was a remarkable horse who gave us all the ride of a lifetime and wonderful memories," trainer Peter Moody said in the statement. Moody later revealed the cause of death was laminitis, a painful disease of the foot that eventually progresses to a point that a horse can no longer walk. "She had a m...
Health explainer: All you need to know about the Mpox virus
Health

Health explainer: All you need to know about the Mpox virus

Mpox, previously known as monkeypox, is an infectious disease caused by the monkeypox virus (MPXV), a member of the Orthopoxvirus genus.   The World Health Organization (WHO) on Wednesday declared a global health emergency with Mpox spreading rapidly across 13 African countries, including Congo, where 14,000 cases and 524 deaths have been reported.  There are two distinct genetic clades of this virus, Clade I and Clade II. The disease, often characterised by painful rashes, fever, and swollen lymph nodes, primarily spreads through direct contact with infected individuals, animals, or contaminated materials. Historically, the virus was first identified in 1958 in monkeys used for research in Denmark, with the first human case reported from Congo in 1970. After the eradication of smallpox...
Woman charged in alleged plan to steal Elvis’ Graceland
World News

Woman charged in alleged plan to steal Elvis’ Graceland

By Ana Faguy, BBC News Graceland Memphis Tennessee Photo: By PaddyBriggs - Own work, CC0, https://commons.wikimedia.org/w/index.php?curid=15041528 A Missouri woman is accused of trying to defraud Elvis Presley's family of millions of dollars and steal the family's ownership interest in Graceland, the US singing legend's family home. Lisa Jeanine Findley, who used a variety of aliases, was arrested for allegedly orchestrating a scheme to conduct a fraudulent sale of Graceland, located in Memphis, Tennessee home. Findley, 53, was federally charged with mail fraud and aggravated identity theft and was expected to appear in court Friday. If convicted, she could face up to 20 years in prison. The Presley family has not publicly commented on the charges. The US Justice Department claims Fi...