World News

Vepaiamele is a young activist is taking on the defining challenge of our lifetime. Photo: Supplied / Conor Ashleigh/ Save the Children It is Vepaiamele's 16th birthday, but she is not having a party. Today she will be at the World Court. Vepaiamele is part of Vanuatu's delegation to The Hague - and will be representing the voice of young people in the Pacific. It is a landmark case, beginning five years ago with a group of law students studying in Vanuatu discussing how they could help bring about climate action. Now, for the first time, the 15 judges of the International Court of Justice have been requested to give an advisory opinion on the obligations of states in respect of climate change. Between 2 and 13 December, the International Court of Justice will be holding public hearings...

Parts of Brisbane have been submerged by flash flooding, with more storms predicted for south-east Queensland. Bureau of Metereology (BOM) senior meteorologist Angus Hines said massive rainfall totals were recorded, with the heaviest falling inland from the Gold Coast. In a short burst of rapid rainfall on Sunday, 51 millimetres were recorded in Brisbane City over 30 minutes. In an hour, Rosalie saw 70mm and 77mm fell in Holland Park West. Coombabah on the Gold Coast had 77mm and Waterford in Logan recorded 57mm in the space of under four hours. Up to 265mm of rain hit Springbrook National Park and the wider Scenic Rim in the 24 hours to 9am on Sunday. "Very, very wet there [and] caused some sharp river level rises including the Logan River, which shot straight into major flooding overnigh...

By Ashley R. Williams, Sarah Dewberry, Zenebou Sylla and Dakin Andone, CNN Lake-effect snow buried a vehicle in Pennsylvania's Millcreek Township. Photo: Matt Eisert via CNN Newsource Post-Thanksgiving travel will be treacherous in parts of the Great Lakes region due to several feet of lake-effect snow, while biting cold temperatures sweep across a large swath of the United States. More than two million people downwind of Lakes Michigan, Erie and Ontario remain under lake-effect snow warnings, with heavy snow already reported this weekend across parts of Ohio, Pennsylvania and New York state. Most significantly, nearly four feet of snow fell on parts of western New York the last few days, according to the Weather Prediction Centre. The lake-effect warnings in most of western New York...

By Joyce Lee and Valerie Volcovici for Reuters Photo: 123RF Talks fail to reach consensus on treaty scope Oil-producing nations oppose production caps Plastic production on track to triple by 2050 Decisions postponed to a future meeting Countries negotiating a global treaty to curb plastic pollution failed to reach agreement on Monday with over 100 nations wanting to cap production while a handful of oil-producers were prepared only to target plastic waste. The fifth UN Intergovernmental Negotiating Committee meeting to yield a legally binding global treaty in Busan, South Korea, was meant to be the final one. However, countries remained far apart on the basic scope of a treaty, and could agree only to postpone key decisions to a future meeting. "While I saw points of conve...

By Andrea Shalal and Maya Gebeily, Reuters Massad Boulos, will be Trump's adviser on Arab and Middle Eastern affairs, his son is married to Trump's daughter Tiffany (pictured). Photo: Leon Neal/Getty Images/File via CNN Newsource Incoming US president Donald Trump said Lebanese American businessman Massad Boulos would serve as senior adviser on Arab and Middle Eastern affairs. Trump made the announcement on Truth Social. Boulos, the father-in-law of Trump's daughter Tiffany, met repeatedly with Arab American and Muslim leaders during the election campaign. It was the second time in recent days that Trump chose the father-in-law of one of his children to serve in his administration. On Sunday, Trump said that he had picked his son-in-law Jared Kushner's father, real estate mogul Charl...

By Larissa Ham, ABC News Tim from Melbourne Snake Control was contacted, quickly identified the tiger snake (the fourth most venomous snake in the world) and volunteered his services. Photo: Supplied / Victoria Police A woman was driving along the Monash Freeway on Saturday morning when she felt a snake slithering up her leg. She weaved through traffic, pulled over to the side of the freeway, and leapt out of her car to safety. The shaken driver was taken to the hospital for observation, and the snake was released "well away from houses, people and pets". You might have heard of the movie Snakes on a Plane. But what happens if you're driving down a busy city freeway, and you suddenly, terrifyingly, feel a tiger snake slithering up your leg? That was the case for a woman on Melbour...

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky and Russian President Vladimir Putin. Photo: AFP It has been more than 1000 days since Russia invaded Ukraine, and there seems to be no end in sight. This week, Russian president Vladimir Putin levelled threats against Kyiv with a new ballistic missile, dubbed Oreshnik. With neither Putin or Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky seemingly prepared to give up their position, expect both to hold firm ahead of potential peace talks, according to veteran war correspondent Mike Eckel. "I think what's happening right now from all sides, being it the Americans, the Europeans, the Ukrainians, and for Russia, there is a jockeying for positioning on the negotiation table," he told Sunday Morning. "People are setting out their chips, trying to see where they...

Anti-government fighters celebrate in a street in Maaret al-Numan in Syria's northwestern Idlib province on November 30, 2024. Photo: ABDULAZIZ KETAZ By Tom Perry and David Brunnstrom, Reuters The Syrian army have said dozens of its soldiers had been killed in a major attack led by Islamist Hayat Tahrir al-Sham rebels who swept into the city of Aleppo, forcing the army to redeploy in the biggest challenge to President Bashar al-Assad in years. Russia's Defence Ministry said its air force had carried out strikes on Syrian rebels in support of the country's army, Russian news agencies reported. The strikes followed what was the boldest rebel assault for years in a civil war where front lines had largely been frozen since 2020. Hayat Tahrir al-Sham, or HTS, once known as the Nusra Front, i...

By Sarah N. Lynch, Reuters Former chief of staff to the US secretary of defence Kash Patel speaking during a campaign rally for US Republican president-elect Donald Trump. Photo: AFP / REBECCA NOBLE Republican president-elect Donald Trump said he wanted former National Security official and firebrand loyalist Kash Patel to lead the FBI, signalling an intent to drive out the bureau's current director, Christopher Wray. Republican President-elect Donald Trump said on Saturday local time he wanted former National Security official and loyalist Kash Patel to lead the FBI, signaling an intent to drive out the bureau's current director, Christopher Wray. Patel, who during Trump's first term advised both the director of national intelligence and the secretary of defense, has previously call...

By Lauren Day, ABC South-East Asia correspondent This factory outside of Vientiane is believed to be the source of the methanol poisoning. Photo: ABC News A document from the Laos Ministry of Health's Department of Food and Drugs orders the prohibition of selling or consuming Tiger Vodka and Tiger Whisky and the closure of the factory that makes the two products. The ABC visited the factory and was told by locals that it had been closed after visits by health inspectors and police. The owner of the factory, as well as three more foreign nationals who were working at Nana Backpackers Hostel, have been arrested but no charges have been laid. A Laos government document obtained by the ABC suggests the source of a methanol poisoning outbreak that killed six tourists is a rundown fac...