World News

By Stephanie Kelly, Reuters Photo: Michael M. Santiago/Getty Images/AFP In the wake of the devastation of Hurricane Helene in the United States this week, a new storm emerged on social media - false rumours about how disaster funds have been used, and even claims that officials control the weather. Local and national government officials say they are trying to combat the rumours, including one spread by Republican presidential candidate Donald Trump. One of the more far-fetched rumours is that Helene was an engineered storm to allow corporations to mine regional lithium deposits. Others accuse the administration of President Joe Biden of using federal disaster funds to help migrants in the country illegally, or suggest officials are deliberately abandoning bodies in the cleanup. Rep...

By Leigh Thomas and Kanishka Singh, Reuters Pro-Palestinian protesters rally in support of Gaza and Lebanon in Times Square on 5 October, 2024 in New York City. Photo: STEPHANIE KEITH / AFP Thousands of protesters took to the streets in major cities around the world on Saturday demanding an end to bloodshed in Gaza and the wider Middle East as the start of Israel's war in the Palestinian enclave approaches its first anniversary. About 40,000 pro-Palestinian demonstrators marched through central London, while thousands also gathered in Paris, Rome, Manila, Cape Town and New York City. Demonstrations were also held near the White House in Washington, protesting US support for its ally Israel in military campaigns in Gaza and Lebanon. Protesters at Times Square in New York City wore the...

By Steve Holland, Reuters Tesla CEO Elon Musk (R) jumps on stage as he joins former US president and Republican presidential candidate Donald Trump during a campaign rally at site of his first assassination attempt in Butler, Pennsylvania on 5 October. Photo: JIM WATSON / AFP Republican presidential candidate Donald Trump on Saturday (local time) returned to the rural Pennsylvania site where he was nearly assassinated, rallying a large crowd in the critical battleground state one month before the 5 November election. "As I was saying," Trump said as he appeared on stage, pretending he was resuming the speech that was interrupted when he was grazed in the ear by a bullet on 13 July. In mid-speech, Trump called up on stage a powerful ally - Elon Musk, CEO of Tesla and owner of social m...

Hashem Safieddine in May 2024. Photo: ANWAR AMRO / AFP A high-level Hezbollah source said on Saturday (local time) that contact with Hashem Safieddine, widely touted as potentially the group's next leader, had been lost following Israeli strikes this week. Responding to the AFP report, the group said in a statement that there were "no Hezbollah sources and our viewpoint is issued in official statements". It did not confirm or deny whether contact with Safieddine was lost. "Contact with Sayyed Safieddine has been lost since the violent strikes on Beirut's southern suburbs" early on Friday, the official told AFP. "We don't know if he was at the targeted site, or who may have been there with him," he added. A second source close to Hezbollah also confirmed that communication had been cut o...

Photo: 123RF WARNING: This story contains graphic content that some readers may find upsetting. A woman has been charged over the alleged murder and dismemberment of her husband in Sydney's southwest last year. NSW Police launched a missing persons investigation after 62-year-old Mamdouh Noufl was reported missing by family and friends in July 2023. Noufl had not been seen since May of that year. Homicide squad detectives took over the case in January after police deemed the disappearance of Noufl to be suspicious. On Thursday, 53-year-old Nirmeen Noufl was arrested and a crime scene warrant was executed at her and her husband's home in Greenacre. Nirmeen Noufl was taken into custody at Bankstown Police Station and charged with murder yesterday morning. Detective Superintendent Daniel Do...

By Sarah McLean, ABC Not enough loos? It's a problem worth solving, Australia's Building Codes authority says, and it could deliver health and economic benefits as well as pluses for comfort and equity. Photo: Unsplash/ Jonathan Taylor New analysis shows women are 34 times more likely than men to be queued for bathrooms A researcher says there often are not enough cubicles for women to use In Australia, the Australian Building Codes Board wants to reduce the problem by imposing revised standards that would increase the minimum number of cubicles in women's bathrooms in some new buildings, including theatres and cinemas. A slow and painful crawl towards the bathroom in an endless queue is a situation most women would rather avoid. But for theatre entertainer Libby Trainor Parker, it...

Garth Brooks speaking at the 2023 Music City Walk of Fame Induction ceremony in Nashville, Tennessee. Photo: AFP/ Jason Kempin Country star Garth Brooks has denied rape accusations against him as he returned to his Las Vegas concert residency in the wake of a sexual misconduct lawsuit filed against him. In a statement to People magazine, the 62-year-old dismissed the allegations, in which a former employee accuses Brooks of rape and repeated unwanted sexual advances, including exposing himself and groping. "I have been hassled to no end with threats, lies, and tragic tales of what my future would be if I did not write a check for many millions of dollars," Brooks said, adding his team had filed suit against the woman for extortion and defamation. "It has been like having a loaded gun wa...

Photo: CFOTO / NurPhoto via AFP A Prague hospital said Friday it was treating five children who had swallowed magnets following a "piercing challenge" they had found on TikTok. The children placed sphere-shaped magnets at the tip of their tongues to imitate piercing and then swallowed them by accident, the Prague-Motol hospital said in a statement. "One patient was lucky enough to excrete the magnets easily, but other patients remain in hospital and two are likely to undergo acute surgeries today," added the hospital in the Czech capital. The hospital said patients who swallowed several magnets or a magnet and a metal object ran the risk of the objects connecting inside the body. "They may pull the stomach and the intestine towards each other and damage them or even cause perforation or ...

US President Joe Biden warns that Republican candidate Donald Trump could refuse to accept the outcome o the election. Photo: TANNEN MAURY / AFP US President Joe Biden says he is confident the upcoming presidential election will be fairly conducted, but he warned that Republican candidate Donald Trump and his running mate could refuse to accept the outcome. "I'm confident it will be free and fair. I don't know whether it will be peaceful. The things that Trump has said, and the things that he said last time out, when he didn't like the outcome of the election, were very dangerous," Biden said. Biden said it was notable that Trump's running mate, US Senator JD Vance, would not confirm during this week's vice presidential debate that he would accept the outcome of the vote next month. Tru...

People wait for a food distribution in a displaced persons camp at the Lycée Marie Jeanne in Port-au-Prince. Photo: AFP / CLARENS SIFFROY Some 3,000 flee Pont-Sonde as international support lags Over 700,000 displaced, more than 5 million face severe hunger Gang leader says attack intended to worsen food crisis No progress on justice for massacres in recent years Armed men belonging to the Gran Grif gang killed at least 70 people, including three infants, and forced at least 3000 to flee as they swept through a Haitian town shooting automatic rifles at residents, the United Nations (UN) says. "We are horrified by Thursday's gang attacks in the town of Pont-Sonde in Haiti's Artibonite department," UN spokesperson Thameen Al-Kheetan said in a statement. At least another 16 people we...