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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...

Lalita Kayi alleged her husband "chained her and left her in the forest to die without food or water". Photo: Supplied / 123RF By Geeta Pandey, Cherylann Mollan and Mushtaq Khan, BBC News Mystery surrounds an American woman who was found chained to a tree "screaming" in a forest in the western Indian state of Maharashtra. Lalita Kayi, 50, was discovered a week ago in the dense forests of Sindhudurg district after her cries for help were heard by shepherds. They alerted the police who sawed off the chain and rescued her. Kayi, who appeared completely emaciated, was taken to hospital. Her physical health has since improved and, on Friday, she was moved to a psychiatric facility for further treatment, doctors treating her told the BBC. In a written statement to the police, she has alleged ...

By Pritti Mistry, BBC News Peggy stars as Dogpool in the new film Deadpool & Wolverine. Photo: AFP/JAMIE MCCARTHY The transformation of Britain's "ugliest" dog into a Hollywood star has been unexpected and "surreal", her owner has said. Peggy is appearing alongside Ryan Reynolds and Hugh Jackman in the latest Marvel superhero film, Deadpool & Wolverine. The five-year-old pugese - a pug and Chinese crested cross - was cast as "Dogpool" after finding fame last year when she was crowned the ugliest pooch in a national contest. Recalling the past 18 months, Peggy's owner Holly Middleton, from East Yorkshire, said: "Not in my wildest dreams did I think anything like that would have ever happened." "When we submitted her picture [to the ugly dog competition], I didn't think it woul...

New Zealand pilot Philip Mehrtens was photographed with his rebel captors in Indonesia's Papua region in February 2023. Photo: Supplied/TPNPB A separatist group in Indonesia's easternmost region of Papua has agreed to free New Zealand pilot Phillip Mehrtens from more than a year in captivity since kidnapping him, according to an audio message issued by a spokesperson on Saturday. An armed faction of the West Papua National Liberation Army (TPNPB), led by Egianus Kogoya, kidnapped Mehrtens on 7 February 2023 after he landed a small commercial plane in the remote, mountainous area of Nduga. Kogoya has agreed to release Mehrtens and is readying a plan to do so, the spokesperson, Sebby Sambom, said, adding that it could take up to two months. "Commander Egianus has said humbly, for the sake...