World News

By Rich McKay and Luc Cohen, Reuters Police said the gunman arrived outside the hotel several minutes before Brian Thompson and waited for him to walk past. Photo: NYPD via CNN New York City police were searching for the man who killed UnitedHealth executive Brian Thompson in a brazen attack outside a Midtown Manhattan hotel before fleeing into Central Park. Thompson, the CEO of UnitedHealth's insurance unit, was was shot from behind on Thursday in what police described as a targeted attack by a masked assailant lying in wait. It came just before the company's annual investor conference at the Hilton on Sixth Avenue. The words "deny," "defend" and "depose" were carved into the shell casings found at the scene, police sources told ABC and the New York Post. Reuters has not independent...

By Hyunsu Yim and Ju-min Park, Reuters A television screen shows South Korea's President Yoon Suk Yeol announcing the lifting of martial law, in Seoul, South Korea on December 4, 2024, hours after Yoon imposed it. Photo: YONHAP / AFP South Korea's ruling party leader says President Yoon Suk Yeol needs to be removed from power for trying to impose martial law, as the government denied reports that it was preparing to issue another martial law declaration. Yoon shocked the nation and his own ruling People Power Party on Tuesday when he gave the military sweeping emergency powers in order to root out what he called "anti-state forces" and overcome obstructionist political opponents. He rescinded the declaration about six hours later after parliament, including some members of his party,...

Bianca Jones died after falling ill in the tourist town of Vang Vieng in Laos in November. Photo: ABC / Con Chronis Melbourne teen Bianca Jones has been farewelled by family and friends at a funeral at her old school after her death from methanol poisoning during a holiday in Asia. Jones and her friend Holly Bowles, both 19, were staying in the tourist town of Vang Vieng in Laos when they fell ill in November. They were both transferred to hospitals in Thailand, where they later died surrounded by their families. Bianca Jones, left, and Holly Bowles. Photo: ABC/Supplied On Friday, Mentone Girls' Grammar principal Natalie Charles read out a statement from the Jones family, thanking the public for their support and compassion during what had been an extremely difficult time. "Your k...

Photo: 123RF Muhammad was the most popular name given to baby boys in England and Wales in 2023, ousting Noah to take the top spot, official figures showed. Muhammad had been among the 10 most popular names since 2016 and had been in second place in 2022, according to the annual list produced by the Office for National Statistics. Oliver replaced George as the third most popular. For baby girls, the top three most popular names in 2023 - Olivia, Amelia and Isla - were unchanged from the previous year. The ONS said that the world of celebrity appeared to have influenced the increased popularity of some names, citing babies named Reign and Saint after those from the Kardashian-Jenner family and a rise in those sharing the names of pop musicians such as Billie Eilish. However, it said names...

Photo: RNZ / Angus Dreaver Australian Prime Minister Anthony Albanese has denounced a suspicious blaze that tore through a Melbourne synagogue as a violent act of antisemitism aimed at creating fear in the community. Fire crews were called to the Adass Israel synagogue at Ripponlea in Melbourne's south-east shortly after 4am and found a large fire burning through the building. Early-morning worshippers inside the synagogue reported seeing two masked men throw fuel inside the premises, before setting it alight. "There was some banging on a door with some liquid thrown inside and was lit alight, the few people inside the synagogue ran outside the back door, one of them got burnt," Adass Israel Synagogue board member Benjamin Klein said. "The whole place took alight pretty quickly." He beli...

By Chris Isidore, CNN UnitedHealthcare CEO Brian Thompson was shot and killed in what police described as a bold and deliberate attack in the heart of New York City. Photo: CNN Newsource UnitedHealthcare CEO Brian Thompson had an in-house security detail assigned to him during his trip to New York City, according to a source familiar with the company's security, but the detail was not with him when he was shot and killed in front of a hotel early Wednesday morning. It is common for top executives of major corporations to have personal security provided by their companies. Those measures are often significant expenses listed in corporate filings, though UnitedHealth Group, UnitedHealthcare's corporate parent, does break out the cost in its own filings. The need to protect the safety o...

By Abhirup Roy and Andrew Hay for Reuters Photo: USGS/Supplied A large magnitude 7 earthquake hit off a sparsely populated stretch of northern California coast on Thursday, prompting coastal towns to evacuate low-lying areas amid a tsunami warning that was later cancelled. No deaths or injuries were reported. The National Weather Service said that the tsunami warning that extended along 800km of the California and Oregon coasts was called off about 90 minutes after the earthquake struck. The Zoo has closed due to national weather emergency and tsunami warning. Guests have been evacuated, animals secured and staff have moved to higher ground.— San Francisco Zoo & Gardens (@sfzoo) December 5, 2024 The quake, which hit at a shallow depth of 10km was centred about 63km west of t...

By Peter de Kruijff, ABC environment reporter All clouds have some level of cooling effect on the planet. Photo: Bruce Rolff A drop in the number of low-altitude clouds was behind unexplained warming that contributed to the world's hottest year on record, a new study suggests. The record-breaking heat of 2023, which saw the planet warm an average 1.45 degrees Celsius over pre-industrial surface temperatures, took many climate scientists by surprise. Their closest predictions, which simulated the effects of human-created warming and other known drivers, were around 0.2C lower than observed temperatures. Experts could not fully explain the extra heat source at the time. Now research published in Science today suggests the missing warming mechanism from the prediction models was a low i...

NYPD release photos of suspected gunman without mask Photo: NYPD By Karina Tsui, John Miller and Brynn Gingras of CNN Words written on ammunition. A smiling surveillance photo. A discarded water bottle. A dropped cell phone. These are among the key pieces of evidence providing clues for police more than 24 hours into a hunt for the man who gunned down a healthcare executive Wednesday before seemingly disappearing into the city. UnitedHealthcare CEO Brian Thompson was killed on a busy Midtown Manhattan street in a targeted early morning attack. A shell casing from one of the bullets fired into his body had the word "depose" written on it. "Delay" was written on a live round that was ejected when the shooter appeared to be clearing a jam. Police are exploring whether the words found indic...

By Francesco Fontemaggi, Stuart Williams and Alice Hackman for AFP Emmanuel Macron has adopted a defiant tone in an address to the nation, promising to see out his full term as France's president. Photo: Xose Bouzas / Hans Lucas via AFP President Emmanuel Macron on Thursday vowed to name a new prime minister in the coming days to prevent France from sliding deeper into political turmoil, rejecting growing pressure from the opposition to resign. Macron adopted a defiant tone in an address to the nation, seeking to limit an escalating political crisis after Prime Minister Michel Barnier's government was ousted in a historic no-confidence vote. Contemporary France's shortest-serving premier, Barnier resigned after Wednesday's parliamentary defeat in a standoff over the budget forced his...