World News

By Saskya Vandoorne, CNN Gisèle Pelicot has inspired other women to come forward. Photo: Miguel MEDINA / AFP Analysis - It's the landmark trial that has upended French society and prompted some deep soul searching about sexual violence and consent: the Pelicot mass rape case. Many have called it a socio-cultural earthquake, a reckoning on France's systemic problem with women. At the epicentre of the trial are 51 men, all who lived within a 30-mile radius of one another. There was Dominique Pelicot at the helm, who drugged and invited those strangers to assault and rape his then-wife, Gisèle for over a decade. It was in this tiny geographic perimeter where an entire world of violence and misogyny existed. Hundreds of people packed an emotionally charged Avignon courtroom, with many sp...

Tourism is a major earner for Vanuatu's economy, says Glen Craig. Photo: Supplied The leader of the Vanuatu Business Resilience Council is pleading for airlines and tourists to return, and says only a few buildings are affected. A large 7.3 quake struck Port Vila on Tuesday, causing some buildings to collapse with people inside. There had been conflicting reports of the official death toll from the quake, but on Thursday evening, Vanuatu president Nikenike Vurobatavu said the number of people dead was "around 16". Vanuatu Business Resilience Council chair Glen Craig told Morning Report the rest of Port Vila was relatively unscathed. "Out in the residential side of things, our communities, we've been largely... inconvenienced rather than really affected." Almost all of Port Vila now had...

By Richard Cowan, Andy Sullivan, Katharine Jackson and Bo Erickson, Reuters Photo: AFP / Jim Watson Republicans in the US Congress huddled to find a path forward after President-elect Donald Trump rejected a bipartisan deal to avert a partial government shutdown and demanded lawmakers abolish the nation's debt ceiling. Unless a deal passes the Republican-controlled House of Representatives and Democratic-majority Senate, the US government will begin a partial shutdown on Saturday (Sunday NZT) that would interrupt funding for everything from air travel to law enforcement in the days leading up to Christmas and cut off paychecks for more than 2 million federal workers. Many government operations, such as Social Security retirement payments, would continue. Trump dug in his heels, sayi...

Paris 2024 Olympic Games - Cycling Road Photo: PHOTOSPORT The Summer Olympics returned to Europe for the first time in 12 years as Paris hosted a sumptuous visual event that hogged the global spotlight for weeks and reinvigorated the brand after the previous two Games had been hit by the pandemic. The International Olympic Committee had not seen fans in their last Summer and Winter Games -- at Tokyo in 2021 and a year later in Beijing -- due to Covid and it desperately needed Paris to be a hit for a much-needed image and revenue boost. The Olympic body had been under pressure from sponsors and broadcasters and could barely afford another miss but as it turned out France delivered a spectacular extravaganza, complete with the city's landmarks as venues and gripping competition. Local her...

Rescue workers at the site of a crumpled building Port Vila after a 7.3 magnitude earthquake. Photo: AFP As the death toll from a massive earthquake climbs, search and rescue specialists in Vanuatu's Port Vila are still hopeful they can find survivors in multi-storey collapsed buildings. On Thursday night, Vanuatu's president said the police had put the death toll from the earthquake at about 16, with more than 200 people injured. New Zealand's Urban Search and Rescue team has been focussed on finding survivors in the Billabong building, which pancaked in Tuesday's 7.3 magnitude earthquake. The crew joined their Australian counterparts, who arrived 24 hours earlier. According to the ABC, they had pulled seven survivors from the rubble so far. Up to eight people were thought to be trappe...

By Julio-Cesar Chavez and Jonathan Allen, Reuters Luigi Mangione consented to surrender New York police officers when he appeared in court on Friday morning NZ time. Photo: CNN Newsource Suspect on way to Manhattan, waives right to extradition proceedings Defence lawyer says Mangione has been 'overcharged' Mangione faces 11-count indictment in New York, including murder as an act of terrorism New York Times reports Mangione would also face federal charges The suspect in the killing of UnitedHealth Group executive Brian Thompson was transferred into the New York Police Department custody on Thursday to face murder charges after he waived his right to extradition proceedings in a Pennsylvania court hearing. Luigi Mangione, 26, appeared in an orange jail jumpsuit at the Blair County ...

Katelyn Polantz and Hannah Rabinowitz, CNN Fulton County District Attorney Fani Willis. Photo: AFP / Alex Slitz A Georgia Court of Appeals has disqualified Fulton County District Attorney Fani Willis from prosecuting the case against President-elect Donald Trump and his accused co-conspirators over alleged 2020 election subversion. The long-awaited decision, in a state criminal case against Trump that was already on hold, raises questions about whether the case can move forward in court. The appeals court found that Willis' office cannot prosecute the case, so a new special prosecutor would need to be appointed for the case to continue. The appeals court found that a "significant appearance of impropriety" was enough to potentially taint the case in the public eye. The appellate cour...

Local authorities have been working around the clock since Tuesday to try to locate and rescue people trapped in the rubble left by the magnitude 7.3 earthquake. December 2024 Photo: Vanuatu Police Force The search for people trapped in rubble and landslides is continuing today as the New Zealand Defence Force arrives in Port Vila. The Defence Force was delayed arriving into Vanuatu after a fault on one of the older Hercules plane. Labour said it was embarrassing, but a new Hercules plane has landed in Port Vila and a second is on the way to Noumea. More than 300 aftershocks have been felt since the big quake on Tuesday. And the official death toll was revised down to nine, though it was expected to rise. Two Chinese nationals were among the dead. Follow RNZ's liveblog for the latest u...

Valerie Kalkoa spent time working in Australia to help support her son, her colleague says. Photo: Facebook/ ABC Among those tragically taken by the earthquake disaster in Vanuatu was Valerie Kalkoa, a single mother who only returned home two days ago She had just finished a second season with a labour hire firm in north Queensland and was shopping in Port Vila when she died. Meanwhile, hundreds more Australians stranded in Vanuatu after its devastating earthquakes will be flown back home on RAAF flights on Thursday evening. Brisbane Airport's international terminal will welcome both arrivals. It follows other emergency rescue flights, which brought 148 Australians from the disaster zone overnight. Australian teams are on the ground working closely with Vanuatu authorities to undertake ...

By Juliette Jabkhiro, Reuters Gisele Pelicot insisted on a public trial to expose her husband and the other men accused of raping her. Photo: CHRISTOPHE SIMON/AFP Content warning: This story discusses sexual violence. A list of helplines is available at the bottom of the page. Husband drugged wife, invited dozens of men to rape her Prosecutors sought maximum 20-year term for husband Trial has sparked debate on updating France's rape law Victim hopes case will help other sexual abuse survivors A French court found all 51 defendants guilty on Thursday in a drugging-and-rape case that horrified the world and transformed the victim, Gisele Pelicot, into a stirring symbol of courage and resilience. Pelicot's ex-husband of 50 years, Dominique Pelicot, had pleaded guilty to drugging h...