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Kim Jong Un. Photo: Supplied/Korean Central News Agency By Jean Mackenzie, BBC News Donald Trump returning to the White House would be "a once-in-a-thousand-year opportunity" for North Korea, according to a man in a unique position to know. Ri Il Kyu is the highest-ranking defector to escape North Korea since 2016 and has been face to face with Kim Jong Un on seven separate occasions. The former diplomat, who was working in Cuba when he fled with his family to South Korea last November, admits to "shivering with nerves" the first time he met Kim. But during each meeting, he found the leader to be "smiling and in a good mood". "He praised people often and laughed. He seems like an ordinary person," he told the BBC. But he is in no doubt Kim would do anything to guarantee his survival, ev...

Photo: Instagram / Jimmy Barnes Australian musician Jimmy Barnes has been hospitalised following his recent tour of New Zealand and is postponing several upcoming shows in Australia due to having to undergo "unexpected surgery". The 'Working Class Man' singer's latest health setback comes less than a year after he underwent emergency heart surgery due to a severe bacterial infection. Barnes, 68, concluded the New Zealand leg of his Hell of a Time tour in Dunedin on 31 July and then revealed in an Instagram post three days later he had been suffering from "unbearable" pain, leading to the hospitalisation. The Scottish-born artist posted a photo from his hospital bed with his wife Jane Mahoney at his side. "I've got some bad news unfortunately. I had a twinge in my hip when I was leaving D...

This combination of file pictures created on August 3, 2024 shows US Vice President and 2024 Democratic presidential candidate Kamala Harris speaking on March 26, 2024, in Raleigh, North Carolina; and former US President and Republican presidential candidate Donald Trump speaking in the first presidential debate with US President Joe Biden in Atlanta, Georgia, on June 27, 2024. Photo: AFP Republican presidential nominee Donald Trump proposed to debate Democratic Vice President Kamala Harris on Fox News on 4 September (5 September NZ time), but the Harris campaign countered that Trump was trying to back out of a debate that had already been set to run on ABC. The rules would be similar to the first debate with President Joe Biden, who has since dropped his reelection bid, Trump said in a...

By Tatenda Chibika, ABC News A crocodile swimming in a lagoon at Crocodylus Park located on the outskirts of the Northern Territory town of Darwin on 30 August, 2023. Photo: AFP / David Gray A man is feared to have been attacked by a crocodile after failing to resurface from water in Cooktown. Emergency services were called after a 40-year-old man entered the water and failed to resurface at the Annan River Bridge in Cooktown just after 2pm on Saturday. Police confirmed they were called to a reported crocodile attack. Officers said the man was fishing when he went missing, and they were confirming the identity of the man with his next of kin. The Queensland Ambulance Service said paramedics were called to the scene near Mulligan Highway. "Paramedics and emergency services are conduct...

A woman reacts while walking in a street as smoke billows in the background from an explosive laden car difused by the Somali police in Mogadishu on August 3, 2024. Photo: AFP/ Hassan Ali Elmi At least 37 civilians were killed and 212 injured in an explosion at a popular beach restaurant in the Somali capital late on Friday, the health minister said, an attack the government blamed on militant Islamist group al Shabaab. Ali Haji told a press conference that 11 of those injured in the attack in Mogadishu were in a critical condition. It was the deadliest attack in the Horn of Africa country since twin car bombs detonated near a busy market intersection in October 2022, killing at least 100 people and wounding 300 others. In addition to the civilians killed at the beach restaurant, police...

By Tom Bennett, BBC News A passenger pushes a loaded trolley after arriving at Rafic Hariri International Airport in Beirut, where many airlines have suspended services since the end of July. Photo: ANWAR AMRO / AFP The US embassy in Beirut has urged its citizens to leave Lebanon on "any ticket available", amid soaring tensions in the Middle East. The advisory follows a similar warning from UK Foreign Secretary David Lammy, who said the regional situation "could deteriorate rapidly". Iran has vowed "severe" retaliation against Israel, which it blames for the death of Hamas chief Ismail Haniyeh in Tehran on Wednesday. His assassination came hours after Israel killed Hezbollah commander Fuad Shukr in Beirut. It is feared that Lebanon-based Hezbollah, an Iran-backed group, could play a...