World News

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...

By Gwladys Fouche, Chang-Ran Kim for Reuters Lanterns are lit by the Atomic Bomb Dome in Hiroshima to mark the 78th anniversary of the world's first atomic bomb attack. (file photo) Photo: STR / AFP Japanese organisation Nihon Hidankyo, a grassroots movement of atomic bomb survivors from Hiroshima and Nagasaki, has won the Nobel Peace Prize, in a warning to countries that have nuclear weapons not to use them. Many survivors of the only two nuclear bombs ever to be used in conflict, who are known in Japanese as "hibakusha", have dedicated their lives to the struggle for a nuclear-free world. The Norwegian Nobel Committee said in its citation the group was receiving the Peace Prize for "its efforts to achieve a world free of nuclear weapons and for demonstrating through witness testimo...

By Stephen Collinson of CNN Obama in Pennyslvania. Photo: AFP / Ryan Collerd Analysis: Exactly 16 years ago, an impossibly young-looking Barack Obama was barnstorming through Ohio on a bus tour Analysis: - Exactly 16 years ago, an impossibly young-looking Barack Obama was barnstorming through Ohio on a bus tour, electrifying huge crowds and emphatically closing the deal on his thumping 2008 election victory. On another October night on Thursday, the 63-year-old ex-president was back on stage, with a vast American flag for a backdrop, trying to do for Kamala Harris what she's so far struggled to do herself - put away the 2024 election. The snowy haired Obama had swapped Ohio, which ceased to be a closely contested presidential state as soon as he left the White House, for this year's ...

By Gerard Martinez for AFP A woman sits outside her home in Tampa, Florida, as people remove debris and clean their homes after flooding caused by Hurricane Milton. Photo: AFP/Giorgio Viera Hurricane Milton has left at least 16 people dead as residents begin the painful process of piecing their lives and homes back together. Nearly 2.5 million households and businesses were still without power, and some areas in the path cut through the Sunshine State by the monster storm from the Gulf of Mexico to the Atlantic Ocean remained flooded. Milton crashed into the Gulf Coast late Wednesday as a Category 3 storm, smashing communities still reeling from Hurricane Helene two weeks ago, which killed 237 people across the US southeast, including in Florida. On Siesta Key, a beautiful barrier is...

m By Emma Farge for Reuters Palestinian forensic and civil defence recover human remains at the grounds of Al-Shifa hospital, Gaza's largest hospital, which was reduced to ashes by a two-week Israeli raid. Photo: - A United Nations inquiry says it found that Israel carried out a concerted policy of destroying Gaza's healthcare system in the Gaza war, actions amounting to both war crimes and the crime against humanity of extermination. A statement by former UN High Commissioner for Human Rights Navi Pillay that accompanied the report accused Israel of "relentless and deliberate attacks on medical personnel and facilities" in the war, triggered by Hamas militants' deadly cross-border attack on southern Israel on 7 October, 2023. "Children in particular have borne the brunt of these att...

Holocaust survivor Lily Ebert (left) stands with her great-grandson Dov Forman after being appointed a Member of the Order of the British Empire following an investiture ceremony at Windsor Castle, on 31 January, 2023. Photo: AFP / Pool / Andrew Matthews King Charles has paid tribute to the "extraordinary resilience and courage" of Auschwitz survivor Lily Ebert, who has died at the age of 100. Ebert, born in Hungary, was taken in 1944 as a 20-year-old to the Auschwitz-Birkenau camp, where her mother, younger sister, and brother were sent to the gas chambers. Along with three of her other siblings, she managed to survive. They were freed in 1945 and reunited in Switzerland before eventually heading to Israel. She later settled in London in 1967, where in her later years she became well k...

Sean "Diddy" Combs arrives for the 2018 Met Gala on May 7, 2018, at the Metropolitan Museum of Art in New York. Photo: AFP / Angela Weiss Musician and producer Sean "Diddy" Combs, who is charged with racketeering conspiracy, sex trafficking and transportation to engage in prostitution, will go to trial in May 2025. The judge in Combs' federal case set a trial date for May 5, 2025 at a court hearing in New York on Thursday. Combs, who has pleaded not guilty, was present in the courtroom, as were several of his family members. Combs' ankles were shackled, and he was wearing a loose-fitting tan button down shirt and khaki pants. He smiled widely to his family as he was led into the courtroom by a US Marshal, taking a moment to wave toward them sitting in the second row. Prosecutor Emily Jo...

A man makes a call in front of a convenience store's collapsed roof in Fort Pierce, Florida, on Wednesday, October 9. Photo: Eric Hasert/TCPALM/USA Today Network/Imagn Images via CNN Newsource As Hurricane Milton made landfall near Siesta Key, Florida, as a dangerous Category 3 storm - weakening to a Category 1 as it sliced through the state - at least nine tornadoes tore through communities over 100 miles (160km) inland, including three in less than 25 minutes, according to a CNN analysis of National Weather Service warnings. Milton, the third hurricane to hit Florida this year, dumped about 16 inches of rain on St Petersburg, a more than a 1-in-1000 year rainfall event for the area, according to the National Hurricane Center. But residents in St Lucie County faced an entirely differen...

By Hanan Dervisevic of the ABC A mesmerising scene of western toad tadpoles has earned its photographer the coveted title of Wildlife Photographer of the Year 2024. The picture, captured by Canadian Marine Conservation photojournalist Shane Gross, took top honours in this year's Natural History Museum competition. Gross captured the image while snorkelling through carpets of lily pads in Cedar Lake on Vancouver Island, British Columbia. He swam for several hours, ensuring not to disturb the layers of silt and algae covering the bottom of the lake. Other than the overall victory, this stunning image also earned Gross first place in the Wetlands: The bigger picture category. Grand title winner 2024 Western toad (Anaxyrus boreas) tadpoles among lily pads in a lake on Vancouver Island, Brit...

By Jeff Mason for Reuters Former US president Barack Obama campaigns for US Vice President and Democratic presidential candidate Kamala Harris in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, on October 10, 2024. Photo: AFP / Ryan Collerd Former president Barack Obama made a passionate case against Donald Trump and in favour of Vice President Kamala Harris on Thursday during a rally at a Pittsburgh college campus aimed in part at spurring young people to show up for the 5 November election. Obama has been a vocal supporter of Harris since she ascended to the top of the Democratic ticket after President Joe Biden stepped aside in July following a poor debate performance against Trump, the Republican former president. Obama, whose White House term ended in 2017, is still popular with his party's base. The...