World News

By Kathy Rose O'Brien, CNN Former soldier Daniel Khalife was found guilty of spying for Iran. Photo: Metropolitan Police via CNN Newsource A former British soldier whose escape from a London prison last year sparked a three-day man-hunt has been found guilty of spying for Iran. A jury convicted 23-year-old Daniel Khalife despite his claims that it had been an attempt to work as a double agent to help British security agencies. Prosecutors told his trial this was "a cynical game." The spy, who admitted to escaping from prison, was cleared of carrying out a bomb hoax. Khalife reached out to a "middle-man" associated with Iran by sending him a Facebook message and claiming he would remain undercover in the British Army for them for more than 25 years, according to Britain's Crown Prosec...

By Michael Holden and Sam Tobin, Reuters London's Old Bailey court. Photo: Supplied / Google Maps A team of Bulgarians carried out surveillance on a US military base in Germany where Ukrainian forces were being trained, one of six operations they undertook as part of a spying conspiracy for Russia, prosecutors have told a London court. Katrin Ivanova, 33, Vanya Gaberova, 30, and Tihomir Ivanchev, 39, are accused of being part of a highly sophisticated spying network, run by a Russian agent named as Jan Marsalek, an Austrian national, which gathered surveillance of individuals and locations in Britain and abroad. Prosecutor Alison Morgan said the trio had put many lives at risk. The three defendants deny the allegations. Morgan told jurors at the start of the trial at London's Old Bai...

A line of about 20 protesters sat in the street under a steady rain as the smiling Ronald McDonald floated overhead. Photo: AFP / DAVID DEE DELGADO New York police have arrested a group of pro-Palestinian protesters who briefly interrupted the Macy's Thanksgiving Day Parade by attempting to block the parade route just ahead of the Ronald McDonald float. The 98th annual parade, televised nationwide, is part of the tradition of America's Thanksgiving holiday, a spectacle of giant balloons of cartoon characters, marching bands and popular music acts performing live. Thousands line the streets of Manhattan to watch. "The demonstrators were taken into custody without incident," the New York Police Department said in a statement. The number of detainees was unknown and charges were pending, t...

By political reporter Maani Truu, ABC News Anyone in Australia who is under the age of 16 will be blocked from platforms including TikTok, Instagram, Snapchat and Facebook under a new law. Photo: Victor Okhrimets / 123RF Children and teenagers under the age of 16 will be banned from social media after the government's world-first laws passed parliament late on the final sitting day of the year. Most of the crossbench voted against the bill, as did Coalition senators Matt Canavan, Alex Antic, while Richard Colbeck abstained. The new rules won't come into force for another year to allow social media companies time to comply. Children and teenagers will be banned from using social media from the end of next year after the Australian government's world-first legislation passed the parl...

By Maya Gebeily, Reuters Smoke rises after an Israeli airstrike struck the southern suburbs of Beirut on 9 November. Photo: Nael Chahine Israel says that its ceasefire with Hezbollah was breached hours after Lebanese security sources said Israeli tanks attacked six areas of southern Lebanon, calling into question a truce reached after more than a year of fighting. A ceasefire between Israel and the Lebanese armed group Hezbollah took effect on Wednesday (local time) under a deal brokered by the U.S. and France, intended to allow people in both countries to start returning to homes in border areas shattered by 14 months of fighting. The Israeli military said the ceasefire was violated after what it called suspects, some in vehicles, arrived at several areas in the southern zone. Hezbo...

By Anastasiia Malenko and Olena Harmash, Reuters Ukrainian rescuers work to extinguish a fire at an energy infrastructure facility following a missile attack in Lutsk. Photo: Handout / AFP Russia mounts second big attack on energy sites this month Action comes at critical juncture of war Power cut to more than 1 million people Fears of more outages as winter bites Russia has unleashed its second big attack on Ukraine's energy infrastructure this month, cutting power to more than 1 million people in the west, south, and centre of the country, officials said. Damage to the energy and other critical infrastructure was reported by officials in Lviv, Volyn, Rivne and Khmelnytskyi regions in the west, the Mykolayiv and Kherson regions in the south, and Zhytomyr region in the centre. ...

Foreign Minister Winston Peters. Photo: RNZ / REECE BAKER Foreign Minister Winston Peters has announced new chemical weapons and missiles sanctions against Russia in response to the invasion of Ukraine. "These new sanctions respond to recent findings by the Organisation for the Prohibition of Chemical Weapons that illegal Riot Control Agents are being used on the frontlines in Ukraine," Peters said in a statement. "This is in line with reports that we have been hearing throughout the year that Russia is using chemical weapons on the battlefield in clear breach of the Chemical Weapons Convention." The new sanctions package also targets Iranians involved in the supply of ballistic missiles and drones to Russia, as well as Russians facilitating this trade. "New Zealand is part of a wider i...

By Jennifer Hauser and Kia Fatahi, CNN Canadian hiker Sam Benastick was found alive after more than a month missing in the icy Canadian wilderness of British Columbia. Photo: Supplied/ Kamloops Search and Rescue It started out as a regular Tuesday morning for two men heading out on a trail for work in the backcountry of Canada's northeast British Columbia, when they spotted another man trudging out of the wilderness. They recognised him as the lost hiker Sam Benastick, who had been reported missing more than a month ago, on 19 October, according to the Northern Rockies Royal Canadian Mounted Police (RCMP). He was reportedly found on a service road, supporting himself with two walking sticks and a cut-up sleeping bag wrapped around his legs for warmth. Benastick was reported missing a...

By ABC entertainment staff The Mighty Boosh, Julian Barratt and Noel Fielding Photo: Patrick Ford Noel Fielding and Julian Barratt's surrealist double act The Mighty Boosh was a gamble that ended up becoming a surprise TV hit. The comedy only ran for three seasons, from 2004 to 2007, but that was enough to garner a legion of obsessed fans who sold out a series of live The Mighty Boosh tour dates across the world. "I had people breaking into my flat to steal my clothes," Fielding recalled in a 2023 interview. "It was very rock and roll, which I quite liked, but upon reflection, it was bizarre." This year marks the 20th anniversary of the show's first broadcast, so there's never been a better time to look back at the unique cultural moment that was The Mighty Boosh's swift rise to cult...

Drake accuses record company of using bots to ‘artificially inflate’ Kendrick Lamar’s song ‘Not Like Us’ on Spotify. Photo: CNN Newsource By Ally Rosenbloom, CNN Musician Drake alleges that Universal Music Group "conspired" to artificially boost Kendrick Lamar's searing diss track 'Not Like Us' on Spotify, according to a pre-action petition submitted to a New York court on Monday. According to a copy of the petition, obtained by CNN, the rapper claims that UMG "launched a campaign to manipulate and saturate the streaming services and airwaves" with Lamar's song "in order to make that song go viral, including by using 'bots' and pay-to-play agreements." The song, part of what has become a very public feud between Lamar and the 'Hotline Bling' rapper, debuted at No. 1 on the Hot 100 when ...