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Pope Francis speaks during an interreligious meeting with religious leaders at the Istiqlal Mosque in Jakarta on 5 September 2024. Photo: AFP / Ajeng Dinar Ulfiana Papua New Guinea is preparing to roll out the red carpet for the head of the Catholic Church Pope Francis' arrival on Friday. It has been 30 years since a Pope stepped foot on the South Pacific nation. The last visit by a Pope to PNG was John Paul II in 1995. The visit is part of an 11-day, multi-country papal trip, where Pope Francis will travel to capital Port Moresby and Vanimo from 6 to 9 September. Today I begin an Apostolic Journey to several countries in Asia and Oceania. Please pray that this journey may bear fruit.— Pope Francis (@Pontifex) September 2, 2024 More than 37,000 people have already registered to atte...

By Rich McKay, Reuters Cars line the road as parents arrive to meet students after a shooting at Apalachee High School on 4 September, 2024 in Winder, Georgia. Photo: AFP / Getty Images North America Georgia state officials arrested the father of the 14-year-old suspected school shooter Colt Gray in connection with a shooting that killed four people and wounded nine at Apalachee High School. Colin Gray, 54, was charged with four counts of involuntary manslaughter, two counts of second-degree murder and eight counts of cruelty to children, the Georgia Bureau of Investigation said. "These charges stem from Mr Gray knowingly allowing his son Colt to possess a weapon," Chris Hosey, director of the Georgia Bureau of Investigation, told a media conference. Colt Gray has been charged with f...

Beetlejuice is back after more than 30 years. Photo: Warner Bros. By Velvet Winter of the ABC It's showtime! Decades after cult film Beetlejuice exploded onto our screens, the 'Juice' is loose once again with the sequel: Beetlejuice Beetlejuice. For the uninitiated, Beetlejuice is set in a world where homes are haunted by ghosts, the afterlife exists (and is cartoonishly gory), and all the grottiest parts are rolled into one ghoul - Beetlejuice (well, technically, Betelgeuse). He's a self-professed "bio-exorcist", a pro at ridding houses of pesky humans so the ghosts that inhabit them can get a bit of peace and quiet. Back in 1988 when the original film was released, director Tim Burton was still the relatively new kid on the block, having only just hit success with his first feature fi...

The cast of The Secret Lives of Mormon Wives: Jessi Ngatikaura, Jennifer Affleck, Mayci Neeley, Taylor Frankie Paul, Mikayla Matthews, Layla Taylor and Demi Engemann. Photo: Disney+ / Fred Hayes Two years ago, a group of rule-breaking Mormon influencers became embroiled in a swinging sex scandal that captivated TikTok - and made international headlines. Mormon influencer Taylor Frankie Paul was at the centre of the controversy, after revealing on livestream that she and her husband, Tate Paul, were getting divorced after "soft-swinging" with her friend group - referring to being intimate outside their marriage, with restrictions. The revelation sent shockwaves through #MomTok, a TikTok community known for sharing content related to motherhood and family life, and implicated seven of Fra...

By Jackie Luna for Reuters Hunter Biden, son of US President Joe Biden, plead guilty to federal tax-related charges. Photo: AP / Matt Rourke Hunter Biden, son of US President Joe Biden, has pleaded guilty to federal tax charges in a surprise move that avoids a potentially embarrassing trial weeks before the US presidential election. Biden had been set to stand trial in a Los Angeles federal courthouse on criminal charges of failing to pay US$1.4 million (NZ$2.29m) in taxes while spending lavishly on drugs, sex workers and luxury items. Instead, he pleaded guilty to all nine counts he faced. Judge Mark Scarsi told Biden he faces up to 17 years in prison and up to US$450,000 in penalties. He set sentencing for 16 December. Defendants who plead guilty in criminal cases typically work ou...

By John Wanyama in Eldoret for Reuters Uganda's Rebecca Cheptegei, left, competes in the women's marathon final during the World Athletics Championships in Budapest on 26 August, 2023. Photo: FERENC ISZA / AFP Warning: This story discusses graphic details of violence against women. Ugandan Olympic marathon runner Rebecca Cheptegei has died, four days after she was doused in petrol and set on fire by her boyfriend in Kenya, in the latest attack on a female athlete in the country. Cheptegei, 33, who competed in the Paris Olympics, suffered burns to more than 75 percent of her body in Sunday's attack, Kenyan and Ugandan media reported. She is the third prominent sportswoman to be killed in Kenya since October 2021. "We have learnt of the sad passing on of our Olympic athlete Rebecca Ch...

The British tech tycoon and six others died when the family's yacht sank off the Italian coast last month. Photo: VesselFinder Initial examinations of four of the people killed when British tech tycoon Mike Lynch's family yacht sank off Sicily last month indicated they had died of suffocation as oxygen ran out on the stricken vessel, judicial sources said on Thursday. Lynch, his daughter Hannah, an onboard cook and four guests died when the Bayesian, a British-flagged 56-metre superyacht, sank during a severe and sudden weather event off the port of Porticello, near Palermo, on 19 August. First results from autopsies on four of the victims - Morgan Stanley International chairman Jonathan Bloomer, his wife Judy, lawyer Chris Morvillo and his wife Neda - suggested that they died from suff...