World News

The Chinese embassy in New Zealand has rejected US accusations about the operation that breached the networks of major global telecommunications providers. Photo: RNZ / REECE BAKER The Chinese Embassy has condemned accusations about a cyber attack as "unfounded and irresponsible smears and slanders". The National Cyber Security Centre put out an advisory last week alongside US and other authorities about an operation called Salt Typhoon, that breached the networks of major global telecommunications providers, which they blamed on China-affiliated hackers. US authorities who had investigated it for months said hackers accessed phone conversations and texts, and swept up masses of metadata from Americans. But the Chinese embassy in New Zealand rejected this and criticised the US. "We urge...

Stan Grant told Saturday Morning The Voice was a modest proposal to enshrine Aboriginal Australians into the constitution. Photo: Harper Collins Australian journalist Stan Grant's new book Murriyang Song of Time is a response to the 2023 Australian Indigenous Voice referendum. Grant is a Wiradjuri first nations Australian with a long broadcasting career, reporting extensively from around the world for more than three decades. Grant told Saturday Morning The Voice was a modest proposal to enshrine Aboriginal Australians into the constitution. "It sought to put into the constitution the acknowledgement of First Nations people, as the first peoples, which is obviously unquestioned. "And then to form an administrative body, one that would have no veto power, would control no money, would n...

Syria has been in the grip of a horrifically brutal dictatorship for decades. Photo: AFP / Omar Haj Kadour By Nick Paton Walsh, CNN Analysis - In every crisis lies opportunity, and in every opportunity lurks crisis. The startling advance of Syria's opposition in a week is the unintended consequence of two other conflicts, one near and one far. It leaves several key US allies with a new and largely unknown Islamist-led force, governing swathes of their strategic neighbour - if not most of it, given the pace of events, by the time you read this. Syria has absorbed so much diplomatic oxygen in the past 20 years, it is fitting this week of sweeping change popped up as if from a vacuum. Since the invasion of Iraq, the US has struggled to find a policy for Syria that could accommodate the vas...

People stand atop a toppled statue of Syria’s late president Hafez al-Assad in Damascus on December 8, 2024. Islamist-led rebels declared that they have taken Damascus in a lightning offensive on on December 8, sending President Bashar al-Assad fleeing and ending five decades of Baath rule in Syria. Photo: LOUAI BESHARA / AFP By Suleiman Al-Khalidi and Timour Azhari, Reuters Syria's army command notified officers on Sunday that President Bashar al-Assad's 24-year authoritarian rule has ended, a Syrian officer who was informed of the move told Reuters, following a rapid rebel offensive that took the world by surprise. Syrian rebels, who said Damascus was "now free of Assad", are expected to broadcast their first statement to the Syrian people on state television, two rebel sources said. ...

The ruby slippers are one of the most beloved artefacts from the iconic 1939 movie. Photo: AFP / Karen Bleier By Maria Sole Campinoti, CNN A pair of Judy Garland's ruby slippers from The Wizard of Oz, which were stolen from a Minnesota museum almost 20 years ago, sold at auction for US$28 million (NZ$48m) Saturday. Bidding opened at $1.55 million and escalated quickly. According to the lot page, 25 bidders participated in the auction. Only two bidders remained toward the end, and the slippers were sold to a bidder participating over the phone. With auction house commissions, the slippers sold for a staggering US$32.5m (NZ$55.7m), nearly 11 times its estimate of US$3m (NZ$5.1). "At $32.5 million, the slippers are the most valuable cinema treasures in the world, and they helped make this ...

Armed men pose for pictures near a military vehicle belonging to the Syrian regime forces and seized by anti government forces, on fire after it was hit by regime forces, in the Hama governorate. Photo: OMAR HAJ KADOUR / AFP By Suleiman Al-Khalidi and Timour Azhari, Reuters Syrian rebels announced they gained full control over the key city of Homs after only a day of fighting, leaving President Bashar al-Assad's 24-year rule dangling by a thread as insurgents march on the capital, Damascus. Thousands of Homs residents poured onto the streets after the army withdrew from the central city, dancing and chanting "Assad is gone, Homs is free" and "Long live Syria and down with Bashar al-Assad". Rebels fired into the air in celebration, and youths tore down posters of the Syrian president, wh...

Authorities have identified the man suspected of killing UnitedHealth executive Brian Thompson. Photo: NYPD Authorities have identified the man suspected of killing UnitedHealthcare executive Brian Thompson and are closing in on him, New York City Mayor Eric Adams was quoted as saying on Saturday by the New York Post. "The net is tightening," Adams told reporters at a Police Athletic League holiday party in Harlem, according to the Post. He declined to name the suspect. Thompson, 50, who became chief executive of UnitedHealthcare's insurance unit in April 2021, was shot in the back around 6:45am eastern time on Wednesday in what police described as a targeted attack by a masked assailant lying in wait. The murder occurred just before the company's annual investor conference at the Hilto...

The King and Queen's official Christmas card. Photo: Supplied / Millie Pilkington / Buckingham Palace Buckingham Palace has revealed the official 2024 Christmas card for King Charles and his wife, Queen Camilla. The palace released the image selected for the festive greetings card, which was taken earlier this year by Millie Pilkington. Pilkington, one of the United Kingdom's most respected portrait photographers, has taken numerous snaps of the family over the years. The portrait of the happy couple was snapped in April in the garden at Buckingham Palace. It captures King Charles, 76, dressed in a gray suit and blue tie, standing in side profile with his hand in his pocket. Camilla, 77, wearing a blue wool crepe ensemble by luxury couturier Fiona Clare, stands next to him. The message ...

The word "Merci" was projected on to the front of Paris' Notre-Dame for the reopening ceremony. Photo: AFP / BENOIT DURAND By Marco Trujillo and Dominique Vidalon, Reuters The word "Merci" was projected on to the front of Paris' Notre-Dame cathedral as it reopened, in thanks for its salvation after a devastating fire that brought the 860-year-old building close to collapse five years ago. The first responders who helped preserve the Gothic masterpiece and some of those who subsequently restored it received a standing ovation after the Archbishop of Paris, Laurent Ulrich, struck the doors of Notre-Dame three times with his crozier before symbolically reopening the building. "I stand before you to express the gratitude of the French nation, our gratitude to all those who saved, helped and...

By Suleiman Al-Khalidi and Timour Azhari, for Reuters Anti government forces keep watch on 7 December 2024, at a position overlooking the central Syrian city of Hama, days after they captured and took control of it. Photo: AFP/ Bakr Alkasem Rebels enter suburbs of city of Homs, sources say Insurgents seize almost entire southwest in 24 hours Protesters topple Damascus statue to Assad's father Syrian rebels battled government forces for control of the key city of Homs on Saturday and advanced towards the capital Damascus, as front lines collapsed across the country, throwing President Bashar al-Assad's 24-year rule into the balance. Since the rebels' sweep into Aleppo a week ago, government defences have crumbled at dizzying speed as insurgents seized a string of major cities a...