World News

By Zachary Handlos and Ali Sarhadi of Photo: AFP / European Space Agency / Handout Hurricane Milton became one of the most rapidly intensifying storms on record as it went from barely hurricane strength to a dangerous Category 5 storm in less than a day on a path across the Gulf of Mexico toward Florida. With sustained winds that reached 180 miles per hour (290km/h) on 7 October 2024, and very low pressure, it also became one of the strongest Atlantic storms. Milton's winds dipped to Category 4 strength early on 8 October but forecasters warned that it would still be an extremely dangerous hurricane at landfall. A thunderstorm moving over Tampa, Florida, on 8 October 2014, ahead of Hurricane Milton's expected landfall. Photo: AFP Less than two weeks after Hur...

By Joshua Boscaini for ABC Photo: 123rf.com A new highly transmissible variant of Covid-19 has been detected in Australia, raising questions about whether it will lead to a wave of Covid-19 cases over summer. The XEC strain has been reported in 29 countries including the United States, United Kingdom and China, according to global health data platform GISAID. Here's what we know about the XEC variant and how many cases have been reported in Australia. What do we know about XEC? XEC is a "recombinant" Covid-19 variant, which means it's a mix of two previous Omicron subvariants called KS 1.1 and KP 3.3. A recombinant variant is created when someone is infected with two strains of a virus that go on reproduce and create another strain. There are conflicting reports about where the strain...

Photo: Madman Entertainment By Velvet Winter of the ABC Around the time Ali Abassi was first offered Donald Trump biopic The Apprentice in 2018, the Iranian-born Danish director couldn't actually enter the US due to Trump's infamous travel ban. Warning: This story contains language some readers may find offensive. After jumping through numerous hoops, Abassi was granted entry - temporarily. "I thought it was quite funny having gone through all this, and I was saying, 'If I leave the country, I can't get in again'," Abassi told The Screen Show's Jason Di Rosso. "So maybe I can do this on Zoom. The first feature directed from Zoom." The Apprentice is the semi-biographical story of Donald Trump's ascension through New York's real estate scene in the 80s, and his relationship with lawyer/me...

By James Mackenzie and Maya Gebeily, Reuters An image grab taken from a UGC video posted on social media on shows Israeli soldiers raising an Israeli flag in Lebanon's southern border village of Maroun al-Ras. Photo: AFp/Screenshot Israel's military said it had deployed a fourth army division into south Lebanon, signalling an expanding ground offensive against Hezbollah, and said the successor to the Iran-backed group's slain leader appeared to have been "eliminated". Defence Minister Yoav Gallant made the announcement about Hashem Safieddine, in what would be the latest shock to Hezbollah's hierarchy, as Israel began ground operations in southwest Lebanon, extending its incursions to a new zone. As Hezbollah's deputy leader left the door open to a negotiated ceasefire, the Israeli m...

Contractors put plywood over windows of a building in Tampa on 8 October 2024 ahead of Hurricane Milton’s expected landfall. Photo: AFP US President Joe Biden urged those who have been ordered to leave before Hurricane Milton makes landfall in Florida to "evacuate now", saying it was a matter of life and death. "This could be the worst storm to hit Florida in over a century, and God-willing it won't be, but it's looking like that right now," Biden said. Biden added that he has approved pre-landfall emergency declarations in Florida and is calling on airlines to accommodate evacuations and not engage in price-gouging. Hurricane Milton was expected to enlarge on Wednesday as it grinded past Mexico's Yucatan Peninsula en route to Florida's Gulf Coast, where more than 1 million people were ...

Diddy (R) and his mother, Janice Combs attend the 2023 MTV Video Music Awards at Prudential Center on September 12, 2023 in Newark, New Jersey. Photo: Jason Kempin The mother of Sean 'Diddy' Combs says her son is not a "monster" and has likened the rapper's public downfall to a "public lynching". The music producer is currently in a Brooklyn jail awaiting trial on counts of racketeering conspiracy, sex trafficking and transportation to engage in prostitution after he was arrested on Septmber 16. He has pleaded not guilty. His defence lawyers tried to have him released on a US$50 million bond, but prosecutors told the judge that Combs was "extremely dangerous to the community" and he was denied bail. His next court date is set for Thursday (local time). Last week, lawyer Tony Buzbee told...

By Gerard Martinez, with Lucie Aubourg in Orlando and Michael Mathes in Washington for AFP Volunteers in Miami fill sandbags as residents prepare for the arrival of Hurricane Milton in Florida on 7 October. Photo: GIORGIO VIERA / AFP Hurricane Milton has exploded in strength to become a potentially catastrophic Category 5 storm bound for Florida, threatening the US state with a second ferocious hurricane in as many weeks. The back-to-back hurricanes have whipped up a US election storm, with Vice President Kamala Harris slamming her White House rival Donald Trump and Florida's Republican governor Ron DeSantis for "political gamesmanship" and for spreading misinformation about the federal response. Milton, which is forecast to batter Mexico's Yucatan peninsula as it churns eastward, tr...

By Steven Scheer and Maya Gebeily for Reuters A Haifa resident inspects the damage following an overnight rocket attack from Lebanon on 7 October. Photo: MATI MILSTEIN / NURPHOTO Hezbollah has fired rockets at Israel's third-largest city of Haifa and Hamas has vowed to rise again as Israel looks poised to expand its offensive into Lebanon, a year after the devastating Hamas attack that sparked the Gaza war. Israelis held ceremonies and protests on Monday to mark the first anniversary of the 7 October attack on Israel by Palestinian militant group Hamas as the Gaza conflict has spread across the Middle East and fanned fears of an all-out regional war. Hamas, which has seen the Palestinian territory of Gaza laid waste by Israel's war, vowed to rise "like a phoenix" from the ashes despi...

By Joyce Lee, Reuters North Korean leader Kim Jong Un. Photo: Supplied/Korean Central News Agency North Korean leader Kim Jong Un said his country will speed up steps toward becoming a military superpower with nuclear weapons, and would not rule out using them if it came under enemy attack, state news agency KCNA said on Tuesday. Kim mentioned South Korean President Yoon Suk Yeol by name for the second time in a week in denouncing Seoul for colluding with Washington to destabilise the region to gloss over the fact it does not even have proper strategic weapons. "Yoon Suk Yeol made some tasteless and vulgar comment about the end of the republic in his speech, and it shows he is totally consumed by his blind faith in his master's strength," KCNA quoted Kim as saying, referring to the S...

The Manawanui sank off the south coast of the island of Upolu on Saturday. Photo: Profile Boats / supplied The Navy says HMNZS Manawanui, the ship which sunk off the coast of Samoa, is not leaking oil. Navy Commodore Shane Arndell told Checkpoint on Tuesday the Manawanui was resting 30 metres underwater on a reef off the south coast of Upolu, and was not leaking. "The divers went out this morning to survey the ship ... and from what they've reported there has been nothing leaking from the ship once it sunk." There was no liquid leaking from the ship at all at this stage, he said. Manawanui is on a part of the reef, he said. "She's very stable, she's lying on her side in that depth of water and quite stable." The ship had been damaged but Arndell said he could not give any further detai...