World News

By Elizabeth Pineau and Ingrid Melander, Reuters Emmanuel Macron called a snap election earlier this year, which delivered a hung parliament. Photo: Nicolas Economou / NurPhoto via AFP French President Emmanuel Macron began meeting party leaders from across France's political spectrum on Friday with the aim, nearly seven weeks after inconclusive parliamentary elections, to finally give the country a new prime minister. Whoever Macron names will face a tough job, with parliamentary approval of the 2025 budget one of many challenges at a time when France is under pressure from the European Commission and bond markets to reduce its deficit. Who will become prime minister - and whether they can get a hung parliament to back any reforms - is still very much an open question, with no sign ...

Roxanne Tickle's exclusion from female-only app was unlawful, Australia's Federal Court has ruled. (File image) Photo: 123RF By Jamie McKinnell, ABC News The exclusion of a transgender woman from a female-only app constituted unlawful discrimination due to gender identity, according to a landmark Federal Court ruling in Australia. Roxanne Tickle downloaded the Giggle for Girls social networking platform, which was designed to be an "online refuge" for women, in February 2021. Users provided a selfie to be assessed by artificial intelligence software to verify they were a woman. Tickle's photo was accepted, but later that year her account was restricted after a manual override. The court case she initiated is the first to claim discrimination on the basis of gender identity since changes...

By Nandita Bose, Jeff Mason and Doina Chiacu, Reuters Harris accepts party's nomination, assails Donald Trump Candidate confronts Gaza war up front, denounces tyranny Speech caps four-day Democratic National Convention Vice President Kamala Harris formally accepted the Democratic nomination for president on Friday with a rousing call to end the war in Gaza and to fight tyranny around the world, drawing a sharp contrast with Republican Donald Trump. "In the enduring struggle between democracy and tyranny, I know where I stand and I know where the United States belongs," Harris said, accusing Trump of bowing down to dictators. On the final, and most anticipated, night of the four-day Chicago convention, Harris, 59, sought to redefine herself for America as she and Trump, 78, enter the fin...

Italian divers search the wreck of the sunken yacht. Photo: ALBERTO PIZZOLI/AFP By Giselda Vagnoni and Guglielmo Mangiapane, Reuters The body of British tech magnate Mike Lynch was retrieved on Thursday from the wreck of his family yacht that sank this week off the coast of Sicily during a violent storm, a senior Italian official said. Lynch's 18-year-old daughter Hannah is still unaccounted for, interior ministry official Massimo Mariani told Reuters after being briefed by the emergency services. The British-flagged Bayesian, a 56-metre-long superyacht carrying 22 passengers and crew, was anchored off the port of Porticello, near Palermo, when it disappeared beneath the waves in minutes after bad weather struck early Monday. Mike Lynch's body has been retrieved from the yacht owned ...

People gather for a rally in Times Square demanding Hamas free Israeli hostages on 19 October 19, 2023 in New York City. Photo: VANESSA CARVALHO / AFP Bullets were found in the bodies of the six Israeli hostages retrieved from Gaza this week, the Israeli military and the Hostage Families Forum campaign group said on Thursday. The military told Reuters it retrieved another four bodies alongside its hostages, presumed to be Hamas militants, and that those bodies did not show signs of bullet wounds. The comments came a day after US President Joe Biden pressed Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu on the urgency of sealing a deal for a truce between Israel and Hamas in Gaza and the release of hostages held by Palestinian militants there. A total of 109 hostages are believed to remain in...

After a whirlwind month in American politics, new Democratic presidential nominee Kamala Harris has formally reintroduced herself in a highly anticipated speech on the final day of the convention in Chicago. US Vice President Harris, 59, is the first Black woman and South Asian woman to ever be a party's presidential nominee. Just a few months ago, such a scene would have been unthinkable, but after Biden had a dismal debate performance in late June he ended up withdrawing as a candidate last month, and Democrats quickly lined up to endorse Harris. She will face former president, Republican Donald Trump, in the 5 November election in a match quite unlike any in recent American history. Follow our liveblog of the speech here: Source link

There has been specualtion for days Beyonce would perform at the rally in Chicago. Photo: Getty via AFP Singer Beyonce will perform on the final night of the Democratic National Convention in Chicago on Thursday, entertainment website TMZ reported, citing multiple sources. Vice President Kamala Harris will accept the Democratic Party nomination on Thursday (US time). She has adopted Beyonce's 'Freedom' as her campaign rally song. She took the stage in Chicago on Monday to the tune, increasing speculation that Beyonce would perform. Beyonce has reportedly given Harris permission to use the song. More to come -Reuters Source link

The Fiji Human Rights Office is calling for stronger policies, laws, and judicial processes to tackle the issue. Photo: 123RF The chairperson of the Fiji Human Rights and Anti-Discrimination Commission (FHRADC) shot down a suggestion by a senior government minister to bring back the death penalty to deter international drug traffickers. This week, Women and Children's Minister Lynda Tabuya told local media she wanted to "see the death penalty brought to Fiji for those who traffic large quantities of drugs". The minister said Fiji continued to be used as a transit point for drug traffickers. "We are vulnerable, our borders are vulnerable, we need to explore the possibility of the death penalty to protect our people," she said. However, the FHRADC is calling for stronger policies, laws an...

After a whirlwind month in American politics, new Democratic presidential nominee Kamala Harris is set to formally reintroduce herself in a highly anticipated speech on the final day of the convention in Chicago. US Vice President Harris, 59, is the first Black woman and South Asian woman to ever be a party's presidential nominee. After a busy week in Chicago where several former presidents and current President Biden endorsed her, her speech tonight will be a key test of her campaign. In her speech Reuters says Harris plans to tell the story of who she is - the daughter of a Jamaican father and Indian mother - and of her plans to help the middle class with cuts in prices on groceries and housing and in taxes and to advance personal freedoms including abortion rights, aides and advisers sa...

The oil tanker Sounion risks becoming an environmental hazard. Photo: Vessel Finder By Jana Choukeir and Renee Maltezou, Reuters A Greek-flagged oil tanker carrying 150,000 tonnes of crude that was evacuated by its crew after being attacked in the Red Sea now poses an environmental hazard, the EU's Red Sea naval mission "Aspides" said on Friday. Houthis, who control Yemen's most populous regions, said that they attacked the Sounion oil tanker in the Red Sea, as the Iran-aligned group has been attacking ships in solidarity with Palestinians in the war between Israel and Hamas in Gaza. Sounion "belongs to a company that have ties with the Israeli enemy and violated the ban decision of entry to the ports of occupied Palestine," the Houthi military spokesman Yahya Saree said in a televised ...