Monday, December 23

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Rescue teams continue hunt for survivors after Vanuatu earthquake
World News

Rescue teams continue hunt for survivors after Vanuatu earthquake

Rescue teams dig for survivors trapped in crumpled buildings in Port Vila on 18 December. Photo: AFP There are conflicting reports of the official death toll from a massive earthquake in Vanuatu as rescue teams continue to scour the rubble for survivors. On 17 December, the Vanuatu National Disaster Management Office reported 14 deaths. It said four people had been confirmed dead by the hospital, six others were killed in a landslide and four others died in a collapsed building. But on Wednesday, the disaster management office reported only nine people had been confirmed dead by the hospital and made no mention of the deaths it had earlier attributed to the landslides and collapsed buildings. One consistent figure is the more than 200 people injured, with the hospital saying many patien...
Acclaimed Australian writer John Marsden, author of the Tomorrow series, dies aged 74
World News

Acclaimed Australian writer John Marsden, author of the Tomorrow series, dies aged 74

John Marsden was one of Australia's greatest writers of children's and young adult literature. Photo: ABC Central Victoria: Larissa Romensky Acclaimed Australian author John Marsden, whose young adult novels were read and beloved across the world, has died aged 74. Marsden wrote the internationally best-selling Tomorrow book series, which sold millions of copies and was adapted for film and television. He won many major awards for children's and adult fiction, and in 2006 received the Lloyd O'Neil Award for contributions to Australian publishing. Following the news of his death, Prime Minister Anthony Albanese said Marsden "wanted young Australians to read more and his writing made that happen". "Vivid, funny, quintessentially Australian, he wrote with a real love for our land and a tru...
Dunedin shooting victim Jack Brazil accused of looting during Dublin riots
World News

Dunedin shooting victim Jack Brazil accused of looting during Dublin riots

By Lainey Priestley of Former Green Party candidate Jack Brazil. Photo: Otago Daily Times / Gregor Richardson A Dunedin shooting victim, social justice campaigner and former Green Party candidate has been arrested in Ireland after allegedly looting a shoe store during mass riots in Dublin last year. However, he claims he has an alibi. Former 2020 Green Party candidate Jack Brazil was arrested in Ireland on Tuesday (local time) for the alleged looting of a Footlocker store in Dublin last year, Irish media reported. He allegedly committed the burglary on 23 November 2023, during the Dublin riots - an incident that involved widespread looting and disorder in the city in response to a knife attack on young children, the Irish Mirror reported. He appeared in Dublin Distr...
Our Changing World: New Antarctic methane seeps
World News

Our Changing World: New Antarctic methane seeps

Follow Our Changing World on Apple, Spotify, iHeartRadio or wherever you listen to your podcasts The bright green Hägglund, a staple of Antarctic transport, is pulled up alongside a crack in the sea ice. The crack runs for hundreds of metres, pointing towards Mount Erebus in the distance. Nearby a group of Weddell seals are hanging out on the ice - mostly mums with pups taking advantage of the crack to gain access to the sea below. A group of NIWA scientists are also taking advantage. They've used a pit saw to make a rectangular hole out of the crack, just large enough for a remotely operated vehicle (ROV) to fit neatly into. At Cinder Cones, the team use a natural crack in the ice to make a hole for the ROV (remotely operated vehicle). Photo: Claire Concannon / RNZ A thin yellow tet...
Alec Baldwin wants to ‘expose what really happened’ during ‘Rust’ shooting – National
Entertainment, Movies

Alec Baldwin wants to ‘expose what really happened’ during ‘Rust’ shooting – National

It appears as though Alec Baldwin knows something that has never been revealed about the tragic shooting that went down on the set of Rust three years ago – and he says he’s getting ready to “expose what really happened.” While the case was dismissed in July, Baldwin told fellow actor David Duchovny that “there is more to come” regarding what happened on that fateful October day in 2021.“I think there’s more to come,” Baldwin told Duchovny during the Dec. 16 episode of the former X-Files star’s Fail Better podcast. “There’s more to come, but the more to come is now my effort, and it’s going to be undeniably a successful effort, to raise and to expose what really happened. I was counterpunching. I was on the defensive. I was being accused. I was being indicted.”In October, a New Mexico judg...
Andrew Tate and brother to have $5.9m seized for unpaid tax, UK court rules
World News

Andrew Tate and brother to have $5.9m seized for unpaid tax, UK court rules

By Sam Tobin, Reuters Andrew Tate (L) and Tristan Tate (R) in December 2023. Photo: DANIEL MIHAILESCU / AFP British police can seize nearly 2.7 million pounds (NZ$5.9 million) from internet personality Andrew Tate and his brother Tristan over unpaid tax, a London judge ruled. Britain's Devon and Cornwall Police took legal action at Westminster Magistrates' Court against the Tates and an unnamed third person earlier this year. The force's lawyers said the Tates had not paid any tax on around 21 million pounds of revenue from online businesses between 2014 and 2022 and that funds in seven accounts should be forfeited. Judge Paul Goldspring said in a written ruling that the Tates had been liable to register with the tax authorities and declare and pay tax on revenue in Britain and/or Ro...
Why Vanuatu should brace for even more aftershocks after this week’s deadly quakes
World News

Why Vanuatu should brace for even more aftershocks after this week’s deadly quakes

By Dee Ninis of This screengrab taken from handout video footage posted on the Facebook account of Michael Thompson on 17 December, 2024 shows people inspecting a damaged car trapped underneath a collapsed building in Vanuatu's capital Port Vila after a powerful earthquake hit the Pacific island. Photo: MICHAEL THOMPSON / AFP The death toll from Vanuatu's earthquake disaster continues to rise, with international search and rescue operations underway to help people hit by the initial quake and its aftershocks. On Tuesday afternoon, a powerful earthquake struck 30 kilometres off the west coast of Efate, the main island of Vanuatu. At a magnitude of 7.2 and a depth of just 50km, the earthquake damaged many buildings and injured dozens of people in Port Vila, the Pacif...
Mumbai: How a groundbreaking surgery gave a woman with Parkinson’s new hope
Health

Mumbai: How a groundbreaking surgery gave a woman with Parkinson’s new hope

In a medical achievement, a 64-year-old woman with advanced Parkinson`s disease received relief from the condition after nine years through Deep Brain Stimulation (DBS) Surgery in Mumbai. This procedure, performed at Wockhardt Hospitals, Mira Road, marks a novel approach for treatment of this progressive disease. Patient Sangeeta Bharwada (name changed), a resident of Bhayander was living with Parkinson’s for a long time, which posed several challenges. She experienced tremors, slowness in activities and stiffness. Gradually, she developed an imbalance and freezing gait while walking. Over time, the symptoms became difficult to manage with medication alone. Dr. Mansi Shah, Consultant Neurologist and Parkinson’s Disease and Movement Disorders Specialist at Wockhardt Hospitals, Mira Road, ...
Live: Second NZ rescue plane arrives in Vanuatu as one breaks down
World News

Live: Second NZ rescue plane arrives in Vanuatu as one breaks down

Photo: NZ Defence Force / Sergeant Maria Eves The search for people trapped in rubble and landslides is continuing to day as the New Zealand Defence Force arrives in Port Vila. The Defence Force was delayed arriving into Vanuatu after a fault on one of the older Hercules plane. Labour said it was embarrassing, but a new Hercules plane has landed in Port Vila and a second is on the way to Noumea. More than 300 after shocks have been felt since the big quake on Tuesday. And the official death toll was revised down to 9, though it was expected to rise. Two Chinese nationals were among the dead. Follow RNZ's liveblog for the latest updates: Sign up for Ngā Pitopito Kōrero, a daily newsletter curated by our editors and delivered straight to your inbox every weekday. Source link...
Liberals seek to address U.S. ask for sharing police data on sex offenders – National
Politics

Liberals seek to address U.S. ask for sharing police data on sex offenders – National

A measure in the federal government’s new border security plan to expand the sharing of police data on sex offenders appears to answer a U.S. request to help combat cross-border sex trafficking. But advocates say there still needs to be greater collaboration and data sharing between Canadian police forces for sex trafficking investigations within the country, where a majority of victims are Canadian women and girls.“There’s a profound failure of Canada’s justice system in serving survivors of human trafficking and especially sex trafficking,” said Julia Drydyk, executive director of the Canadian Centre to End Human Trafficking (CCEHT), in an interview with Global News.The $1.3-billion border security plan includes a proposal first mentioned in the government’s fall economic statement to am...