World News

By David Brunnstrom, Reuters Attendees take part in the 19th East Asia Summit during the 44th and 45th Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) Summits in Vientiane on 11 October, 2024. Photo: NHAC NGUYEN / AFP Russia and China blocked a proposed consensus statement for the East Asia Summit drafted by Southeast Asian countries, mainly over objections to language on the contested South China Sea, a US official told Reuters on Saturday. A draft statement arrived at by consensus by the 10-nation Association of Southeast Asian Nations was put to the 18-nation East Asia Summit meeting in Laos on Thursday evening, the official said. "ASEAN presented this final draft and said that, essentially, this was a take-it-or-leave-it draft," the official said on condition of anonymity. The Uni...

By Papua New Guinea correspondent Marian Faa for the ABC The Panguna mine in Bougainville. Photo: A large-scale study of social and environmental impacts from Rio Tinto's abandoned Panguna mine in Bougainville has found a plethora of actual and potential human rights violations, including risks to life. It is the first comprehensive assessment of issues stemming from the massive gold and copper mine at the centre of a devastating civil war that claimed up to 15,000 lives between 1988 and 1998. Despite being closed for more than three decades, masses of mine waste and decaying infrastructure continue to impact thousands of people in the area, the study found. At some sites, it revealed violations of indigenous people's rights to water, education and culture. Potential impacts to thei...

West Australian writer Tim Winton braves a barbaric and blistering future in his epic new novel 'Juice'. Photo: Supplied Global warming isn't futuristic, says Tim Winton - it's here already. The "terrifying feeling" of being under the sun at 50 degrees Celsius is something the Australian writer and climate activist knows from personal experience. "We're not built to live like that and we won't. I'm afraid most of us won't live like that." In his epic new novel Juice, the 64-year-old drops his readers into a dystopian desert culture where chaos reigns and life is cheap. "Let's just hold our noses and go into this world for a while and see how it feels and see if there's anything we might learn from it," he tells RNZ's Saturday Morning. For Winton, writing Juice was a way of synthesising...

Former Scottish First Minister Alex Salmond. Photo: AFP Former Scottish First Minister Alex Salmond has died at 69, according to statements from Scotland's main political parties and UK media reports. Salmond was taken ill while in North Macedonia, collapsing after delivering a speech on Saturday, according to British media reports. "I will never be able to thank Alex for all his lessons, advice, guidance, mentorship, love and friendship and for everything he did for Scotland. For many years he was the father of the nation and for several years he has been a father-like figure to me. "All of our thoughts are with all of the family and everyone across Scotland who are in mourning," the general secretary of Alex Salmond's Alba Party Chris McEleny said on Saturday. British Prime Minister K...

Donald Trump and Vladimir Putin. Photo: AFP / Sergey Guneev / Sputnik Russia has confirmed that Donald Trump sent the Kremlin sample Covid-19 tests in the early days of the pandemic, after revelations in veteran journalist Bob Woodward's new book raised further questions about the former US president's relationship with Russian leader Vladimir Putin. The Trump administration "sent us several samples of test kits," Kremlin spokesperson Dmitry Peskov told reporters on Thursday, broadly supporting Woodward's claim. His intervention comes after Trump denied the claims, telling ABC News they were "false". Legendary reporter Woodward wrote in War that Trump "secretly sent Putin a bunch of Abbott Point of Care Covid test machines for his personal use". "Please don't tell anybody you sent these...

By Jeff Mason, Reuters US Vice President and Democratic presidential candidate Kamala Harris waves as she arrives at Philadelphia International Airport in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, on 9 September 2024. Photo: JIM WATSON / AFP Vice President Kamala Harris, the Democratic presidential nominee, released a letter from her doctor on Saturday (US time) that pronounced her in good health and fit for high office, in an effort to draw a contrast with her counterpart, Donald Trump. In a memo distributed by the White House, the vice president's physician, Joshua Simmons, said Harris's most recent physical exam in April was "unremarkable", that she maintains an active lifestyle and "very healthy diet" despite a busy schedule, suffers from seasonal allergies and sporadic hives, does not use tob...

By Kristen Holmes, Holmes Lybrand and Kaitlan Collins, CNN Donald Trump survived an assassination attempt in July while speaking at a rally in Butler, Pennsylvania. Photo: Rebecca DROKE / AFP After two attempted assassinations and an ongoing threat from Iran, Donald Trump's campaign has ramped up requests for security, including transport by military aircraft and additional security measures on the ground at the former president's campaign stops, three sources familiar with the discussions told CNN. Trump's campaign wants to use these resources - including access to military aircraft with deterrent systems to protect against surface-to-air missiles - as the former president crisscrosses the US during the final weeks of the presidential campaign. President Joe Biden, when asked about ...

By Gerard Martinez, AFP Flooded streets in Punta Gorda, Florida, after Hurricane Milton bowled through. Photo: CHANDAN KHANNA / AFP Florida resident Kristin Hale weathered Hurricane Milton tired and scared, but like many of her fellow Floridians, she refuses to move away - even after a second hurricane has hit the state in as many weeks. "You persevere when you live in Florida," the 42-year-old said as she moved tree branches and other debris out of the restaurant she runs on Siesta Key, an idyllic island located between Sarasota Bay and the Gulf of Mexico on the state's west coast. "When you live in paradise, that's what you pay for," she added. "We have some of the best beaches in the world, they're just absolutely stunning. We are blessed." Even though the southeastern US state is...

By Issy Ronald for CNN Andrew Irvine (back row, far left) and George Mallory (back row, second from left) were members of the 1924 British Mount Everest expedition. Photo: Supplied / Royal Geographic Society When a National Geographic documentary team discovered a boot and sock sticking out of a melting glacier on Mount Everest in September, they almost immediately recognised its significance as a clue to a century-old mystery. A name label still stitched onto the woollen sock read "A.C. Irvine," revealing that it probably belonged to British climber Andrew "Sandy" Irvine. Irvine's disappearance on Everest in 1924, alongside his compatriot George Mallory, is one of mountaineering's biggest mysteries - with a solution that has the potential to change history. The pair disappeared on 8...

A police officer has been suspended after she allegedly performed the banned Nazi salute on two occasions. (file photo) Photo: 123RF Victoria Police Chief Commissioner Shane Patton has apologised to the Jewish community after allegations were made about a sergeant performing a Nazi salute in front of police recruits. Police allege a 65-year-old sergeant from People Development Command (PDC) made the gesture on two occasions this week at the Victoria Police Academy in Glen Waverley in Melbourne's south-east. PDC is the training unit for sworn members of Victoria Police from recruits through to executive leaders. The Nazi salute is illegal in Victoria and carries a maximum penalty of $24,000 or 12 months' jail. Patton said the sergeant had been a police officer for 40 years and spent 16 y...