World News

France's Prime Minister Michel Barnier. Photo: AFP / Hans Lucas / Amaury Cornu As French Prime Minister Michel Barnier's government has fallen to a motion of no confidence just three months after coming to office, New Caledonia is among the major victims of France's ongoing political instability. New Caledonia's post-riots situation was already difficult, with an economy on its knees and an estimated €2.2 billion in damages because of the burning and looting that erupted on 13 May. Over 600 businesses have been destroyed, making thousands of people jobless, and forcing companies to shut down. Last week, several business leaders groups were complaining that even the packages promised were slow to arrive from Paris and that they needed "visibility" to start re-investing and rebuilding. Th...

By Elizabeth Pineau and Michel Rose, Reuters Prime Minister Michel Barnier was expected to tender his resignation. Photo: AFP / ALAIN JOCARD French lawmakers passed a no-confidence vote against the government on Wednesday, throwing the European Union's second-biggest economic power deeper into a crisis that threatens its capacity to legislate and tame a massive budget deficit. Far-right and left-wing lawmakers joined forces to back a no-confidence motion against Prime Minister Michel Barnier, with a majority 331 votes in support of the motion. Barnier now has to tender his resignation and that of his government to President Emmanuel Macron, making his minority government's three-month tenure the shortest lived in France's Fifth Republic beginning in 1958. He is expected to do so on ...

By Lilit Marcus, CNN Ed Sheeran. Photo: Dia Dipasupil / Getty Images via AFP He has won multiple Grammys and racked up nine Billboard Top 10 Hits, but musician Ed Sheeran will soon add another trophy to his collection - becoming the first-ever Western artist to perform a concert in Bhutan. On 24 January 2025, the British singer-songwriter will perform at Changlimithang Stadium in Bhutan's capital of Thimphu. "Kuzuzampola!" Sheeran said in an Instagram post announcing the Bhutan concert. That means "hello" in the country's Dzongkha language. "I've heard wonderful, wonderful things about Bhutan," he added. A landlocked Buddhist monarchy of about 700,000 people, Bhutan began slowly opening to the world in the 1970s. Travellers who wish to visit are charged a $100-per-day fee as part of ...

By Adel Fruean, ABC Samoa reporter and Pacific Local Journalism Network's Nick Sas Tavita Pili says he can smell the fuel from the sunk ship and the tides bring it to shore. Photo: ABC News: Adel Fruean Tavita Pili can't see the ship, but he can smell it. Standing on rocks on the outskirts of his home village of Tafitoala, Samoa, Mr Pili points to the spot where the diesel comes in, at the back of the village, hidden by mangroves. It's about a kilometre or two from where it happened; what villagers are now calling "the incident". Thursday marks two months to the day since the Royal New Zealand Navy vessel Manawanui ran aground and sank off the coast of Tafitoala. And two months on, local villagers say they still have no answers. "We are worried," he said. "We can still smell the fuel...

Taylor Swift is New Zealand's most streamed artist for 2024. Photo: CHANDAN KHANNA Taylor Swift, Joe Rogan, and Prince Harry are amongst the people New Zealanders listened to most this year, according to this year's Spotify Wrapped results. The streaming giant's annual event assesses mountains of listening data and gives users a unique snapshot of their listening habits. It stitches together our top artists, tracks and genres, counts up the minutes we listened, and reveals all the new music we learned along the way - with some interesting genre names at times. In no great surprise, Taylor Swift has kept her crown as New Zealand's most streamed artist on Spotify, with the pop artist's record The Tortured Poets Department; The Anthology taking the number one spot as New Zealand's most-str...

By Elizabeth Pineau and Michel Rose, Reuters Prime Minister Michel Barnier was expected to tender his resignation. Photo: AFP / Hans Lucas / Amaury Cornu French opposition lawmakers have brought the government down, throwing the European Union's second-biggest economic power deeper into a political crisis that threatens its capacity to legislate and rein in a massive budget deficit. Far-right and left-wing lawmakers joined forces to back a no-confidence motion against Prime Minister Michel Barnier and his government, with a majority 331 votes in support of the motion. Barnier was expected to tender his resignation and that of his government to President Emmanuel Macron shortly. No French government had lost a confidence vote since Georges Pompidou's in 1962. This time, Macron had us...

Yoon Suk Yeol faces impeachment after briefly declaring martial law on Wednesday. Photo: ANTHONY WALLACE/AFP South Korea's parliament has formally introduced a motion to impeach President Yoon Suk Yeol over a botched attempt to impose martial law, but his party vowed to oppose the move, throwing the process into doubt. Lawmakers could vote for the bill as early as Friday, but Yoon's ruling People Power Party said they would oppose it. The opposition Democratic Party, which has a majority in parliament, needs at least eight ruling party lawmakers to back the bill in order for it to pass. "The Yoon Suk Yeol regime's declaration of emergency martial law caused great confusion and fear among our people," Democratic Party lawmaker Kim Seung-won told a late night session of South Korea's Nat...

By Kyoko Gasha and Luc Cohen, Reuters Brian Thompson was the CEO of the largest US health insurer, UnitedHealthcare. Photo: LinkedIn / Supplied Police search for masked suspect in targeted attack UnitedHealth investor conference canceled after shooting Minnesota Governor Walz calls incident a terrible loss UnitedHealthcare is the largest U.S. health insurer Brian Thompson, the CEO of UnitedHealth's insurance unit, was fatally shot on Wednesday morning outside a midtown Manhattan hotel in what appears to have been a targeted attack, New York City police officials said. The shooting occurred around 6:40 am outside the Hilton on Sixth Avenue, just before a scheduled company investor conference at that hotel. Thompson was taken to a nearby hospital, where he was pronounced dead. "This ...

By Elizabeth Pineau and Michel Rose, Reuters Prime Minister Michel Barnier's government is expected to be France's first to be forced out by a no-confidence vote in more than 60 years. Photo: AFP / Hans Lucas / Amaury Cornu French lawmakers are all but certain to oust the government with a no-confidence motion on Wednesday, plunging the euro zone's second-biggest economic power deeper into political turmoil. Barring a last-minute surprise, Prime Minister Michel Barnier's government will be France's first to be forced out by a no-confidence vote in more than 60 years, at a time when the country is struggling to tame a massive budget deficit. If the vote does indeed pass, President Emmanuel Macron plans to name a new prime minister very quickly, possibly even before the grand reopening...

By Kristian Silva and Syan Vallance, ABC Photo: ABC/Supplied The man accused of stabbing two Melbourne women to death nearly 50 years ago has faced court for the first time, sitting calmly in the court dock. Perry Kouroumblis, 65, is accused of murdering Suzanne Armstrong and Susan Bartlett in their Collingwood share house on Easey Street in January 1977. He is also charged with raping Armstrong. Kouroumblis faced a brief filing hearing in the Melbourne Magistrates' Court on Wednesday afternoon. Kouroumblis, who had grey hair and a beard, sat calmly in the court dock dressed in a blue button-up shirt. The homicide detectives who arrested him and accompanied him on a long-haul flight were in the front row of the public gallery. Members of the Armstrong and Bartlett families were also...