World News

Clouds of smoke rise as the twin towers of the World Trade Center in New York crumble following suicide attacks by Islamic terrorists with hijacked planes on 11 September 2001. Photo: DPA / Picture-Alliance via AFP Three of the men accused of plotting the 11 September, 2001 terrorist attacks have entered into a pre-trial agreement, the US Department of Defence says. Khalid Sheikh Mohammad, Walid Muhammad Salih Mubarak Bin Attash, and Mustafa Ahmed Adam al-Hawsawi have been held at the US Navy base Guantanamo Bay, Cuba, for years without going to trial. According to US news outlets, the men will plead guilty in exchange for the prosecution agreeing not to seek the death penalty. The terms of the plea deal have not yet been released. Nearly 3000 people in New York, Virginia and Pennsylvan...

By Anna Chisholm for ABC (file image) Photo: 123RF Unboxing videos have become the norm on social media, which makes 'underconsumption core' a surprising new trend. Instead of videos showing off new items, many users have started posting the opposite. Think videos of scuffed runners and unpolished nails. The trend makes sense during a cost-of-living crisis and seems to promote sustainable living. But it also said more about how social media pressures us to buy. 'Underconsumption core' or real life? You might've seen the trend on Tiktok. The signature 'underconsumption core' title is followed by a curated montage of well-used, second-hand and treasured items, with home and beauty featured often. Thrifted dining tables, jars reused as storage containers, second-hand cars, unbranded wat...

Robbie Manson Photo: PHTOSPORT While many athletes scrabble for sponsors to keep their Olympic dreams afloat, gay rower Robbie Manson has taken a novel approach by setting himself up on the adults-only OnlyFans website. The 34-year-old New Zealander told Reuters the revenue from the subscription-based service used for publishing adult-themed content had vastly increased his income. "I get more than double what I would be on otherwise as an athlete - read into that what you will, but I am making more from OnlyFans than I am from rowing at this stage," said Manson. "I thought, if I'm going to do it, you have to tell everyone, be really open and I think you need to feel that any publicity is good publicity." Photo: AFP/BERTRAND GUAY Manson was speaking the day before his Olympic men...

By Trevor Hunnicutt and Bianca Flowers Donald Trump questioned whether Kamala Harris was Black during the largest US annual gathering of Black journalists. Photo: AFP Republican presidential candidate Donald Trump questioned whether his Democratic rival Kamala Harris is "Black" during a contentious appearance at the country's largest annual gathering of Black journalists on Wednesday. "Is she Indian or is she Black?" Trump said of his opponent in the presidential race, drawing a smattering of jeers from an audience of about 1000 people. "She was Indian all the way, and all of a sudden she made a turn and became a Black person." Harris, whose mother was Indian and whose father is Black, is the first Black and the first Asian American US vice president. "What he just said is repulsive...

A partially destroyed building in Beirut, Lebanon following an Israeli airstrike. Photo: Fadel Itani / NurPhoto / NurPhoto via AFP The New Zealand government is warning people not to travel to Lebanon due to what it calls the volatile security situation. The Safetravel advisory was issued this week and elevates Lebanon to the highest level, meaning "extreme risk". The United States also issued a Do Not Travel notice for citizens on Thursday morning and the British Foreign Secretary warned British citizens in Lebanon to leave immediately or risk "becoming trapped in a warzone". It comes after an Israeli air strike in the southern suburbs of Beirut killed Hezbollah senior commander Fuad Shukr on Tuesday evening local time. It was the second time the area of the Lebanese capital had been s...

Hayden Wilde and Alex Yee from Great Britain shortly after the race finish. Photo: Iain McGregor / www.photosport.nz Hayden Wilde had hoped it would come down to this. Just him and his long-time friend and rival, Alex Yee of Great Britain, duking it out on the run leg on the picturesque streets around Paris for the Olympic triathlon title. He got the showdown he wanted. The result - a silver medal - he is happy to settle for, knowing he chanced his arm. For nine of the 10-kilometre final sprint leg, Wilde raced like a god. He spotted his opportunity early on the second leg, when Yee looked to be slowing up and taking the opportunity to recover, and made a bold surge. And he continued to surge, extending his gap over the Brit to 10, then 12, then 15 seconds. As the sun bore down on the c...

Kamala Harris expected to announce her vice presidential candidate before touring battleground states next week. Photo: Chris Kleponis / AFP By Jarrett Renshaw and Nandita Bose, Reuters Vice President Kamala Harris will tour battleground states next week with her vice presidential candidate, two sources familiar with the planning said, a sign the selection process for her running mate is coming to a close. The high-stakes decision on who will run with Harris has taken centre stage since she became the Democratic frontrunner for the 5 November election after US President Joe Biden ended his White House bid just over a week ago. Harris will announce her vice presidential pick before next week's tour of states that could swing to Republicans or Democrats in November, one of the sources sai...

China flag Photo: photosport China was plunged backed into the doping spotlight after the New York Times reported that two swimmers in 2022 had tested positive for a banned steroid but had their provisional suspensions lifted when the results were blamed on contaminated food. The latest revelations during the Paris Olympics will increase already high tension between the World Anti-Doping Agency and the US anti-doping body over the handling of a case involving 23 Chinese swimmers, who tested positive for trimetazidine (TMZ) weeks before the Tokyo Games. Those positives were also blamed on contamination, with a Chinese investigation determining that the swimmers were inadvertently exposed to the drug after traces of TMZ, a medication that increases blood flow to the heart, were found in t...

US Vice President Kamala Harris arrives at a rally in Atlanta, Georgia on 30 July, 2024. Photo: KYLE MAZZA / AFP Vice President Kamala Harris will hold her first rally with her new vice presidential nominee on Tuesday (Wednesday NZ time) in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, launching a four day battleground tour that includes Michigan and Arizona, the campaign said. The location of the first stop suggests Pennsylvania Governor Josh Shapiro has moved to the top of a short list of running mates, and that the Harris campaign had decided the state that Democrats won back from Republicans in 2020 is a must-win once again. After Philadelphia, Harris and her vice presidential pick will travel to six other locations including western Wisconsin, Detroit and Las Vegas, the campaign said in a statement ...

Barbara Butch said she had been the target of "cyber-harrassment". Photo: Instagram, @BarbaraButch By Steven McIntosh of the BBC A French DJ who performed during the Paris Olympics' opening ceremony has filed a legal complaint after receiving abuse online. Barbara Butch took part in a drag queen sequence during the event which sparked controversy as viewers interpreted it as a reference to The Last Supper. The ceremony's artistic director, Thomas Jolly, denied this and some art experts said the scene shared more similarities with a painting of Greek gods. A lawyer for Barbara Butch said the DJ "has been threatened with death, torture and rape, and has also been the target of numerous antisemitic, homophobic, sexist and grossophobic insults". Butch said she had been the target of "cyber-...