World News

By Tim Reid and Andrew Goudsward for Reuters Police had arrived at his home to tell him of the threat, Pete Hegseth says. Photo: Getty Images / Brett Carlsen Several of President-elect Donald Trump's cabinet and administration picks were targeted this week with actions including bomb threats and "swatting," a spokesperson for the transition team said on Wednesday. The threats were made on Tuesday night and Wednesday morning, and law enforcement acted quickly to ensure the safety of those targeted, spokesperson Karoline Leavitt said in a statement. Elise Stefanik, a Republican US representative and Trump's choice to be US ambassador to the United Nations, and Lee Zeldin, a former Republican congressman who is Trump's pick to head the Environmental Protection Agency, both said in separ...

Photo: MARIA ALEJANDRA CARDONA/AFP By Kara Scannell, CNN Sean 'Diddy' Combs will remain in jail after a judge rejected his latest attempt for release while the rapper and music producer awaits trial on charges of sex trafficking and racketeering conspiracy. Judge Arun Subramanian denied Combs' team's motion for release on Wednesday. His decision followed a two-hour court hearing on Friday where he appeared to explore potential options and questioned prosecutors' allegation that Combs continued to obstruct the ongoing investigation. "The Court finds that the government has shown by clear and convincing evidence that no condition or combination of conditions will reasonably assure the safety of the community," the judge wrote in a five-page order. CNN has reached out to representatives for...

John and Patsy Ramsey, shown in May 1997, pleaded for the public's help in finding their daughter's killer. A $100,000 reward was established for information leading the the killer's arrest and conviction. Photo: CNN Newsource By Holly Yan and Jean Casarez, CNN Whoever duct-taped JonBenét Ramsey's mouth shut, bludgeoned the 6-year-old Colorado girl and strangled the child beauty queen in her own home has evaded capture for almost 28 years. Now, a new Netflix documentary series reexamines the gruesome December 1996 killing and suggests modern technology might help solve the homicide that has riveted and perplexed the country for decades. Cold Case: Who Killed JonBenét Ramsey features lengthy interviews with JonBenét's father and namesake, John Bennett Ramsey, who has lived under a cloud ...

Former US President and Republican presidential hopeful Donald Trump arrives for a "Commit to Caucus" rally in Clinton, Iowa, on 6 January 6, 2024. Photo: TANNEN MAURY / AFP By Chris Isidore, CNN President-elect Donald Trump is vowing to protect American-made cars through steep tariffs on imports. The problem is, there is no such thing as an all-American car. Trump has promised that tariffs, which are a tax on goods that are imported from another country, will be a key part of his economic plan in his second term. On Monday he announced plans to impose a 25% tariff on all goods coming from Mexico or Canada on his first day in office. The US government tracks what percentage of each car's parts is made "domestically." But under current trade law, both Canadian-made parts and US-made part...

By Lauren Day, ABC The Nana backpackers hostel in Vang Vieng, Laos. Photo: ABC / Mitchell Woolnough In the days after backpackers in Laos began falling violently ill due to suspected methanol poisoning, travellers tried desperately to warn each other about the hostel at the centre of the scandal. In a series of now deleted Google Reviews obtained by the ABC, backpackers warned about the unfolding disaster at the Nana Backpacker Hostel in Vang Vieng - where at least five of the six people to have died from suspected methanol poisoning were staying. Eight members of hostel staff had now been detained. The reviews were sometimes met with claims of 'slander' and subsequently deleted. In an interview with the ABC last week, owner Duong van Huan denied the poisoned drinks came from his bar...

By Lianne Kolirin, CNN A woman has been jailed for seven and a half years in England for keeping her infant daughter in this drawer under her bed. Photo: Cheshire Constabulary A mother who kept her baby daughter in a drawer under her bed for almost three years has been jailed for seven and a half years in Britain. The woman, who cannot be named for legal reasons, was jailed at Chester Crown Court in northwest England after the judge said the child - who was discovered weeks before her third birthday - had endured a "living death" as a result of her mother's "terrible secret". The unnamed toddler was found with matted hair, rashes and some deformities at the family home in Cheshire, according to the PA Media news agency, which reported on the case. The court was told that the woman, w...

By Maya Gebeily and Aziz Taher, Reuters This picture shows the destruction from Israeli bombardments in Lebanon southern village of Khiam on 27 November. Photo: AFP A ceasefire between Israel and Lebanese armed group Hezbollah held on Wednesday after the two sides struck a deal brokered by the US and France, but Israel warned local residents not to return to the border area yet. The ceasefire agreement, a rare diplomatic feat in a region wracked by conflict for months, ended the deadliest confrontation between Israel and the Iran-backed militant group in years, but Israel is still fighting its other arch foe the Palestinian militant group Hamas in the Gaza Strip. Cars and vans piled high with mattresses, suitcases and even furniture streamed through the heavily-bombed southern port c...

By Joseph Ax, Helen Coster and James Oliphant, Reuters Nearly 75,000 Americans died from synthetic drug overdoses in 2023, according to government figures. Photo: 123RF US President-elect Donald Trump's vow to impose tariffs on China and Mexico unless they stem the flow of fentanyl and migrants across the US border could impel deeper cooperation from those governments on drug policing, experts said. But the threat also carries risk, particularly concerning US-Chinese collaboration on fighting fentanyl, which had improved this year after bilateral negotiations between US President Joe Biden and Chinese President Xi Jinping. In social media posts on Monday, Trump promised to impose additional 10 percent tariffs on Chinese imports and 25 percent tariffs on Mexican and Canadian goods - t...

Melbourne teenager Bianca Jones died after suspected Laos methanol poisoning. Photo: Facebook Six tourists have died of suspected methanol poisoning in Laos, and more are still in hospital. An expert explains why methanol kills, and how to survive. Surviving methanol poisoning requires getting medical help fast - but getting that care is far from straightforward when you are miles away from a hospital. Six foreign tourists have died in the past week after consuming drinks containing methanol in Vang Vieng, Laos. Many more were caught up in the incident, including a Kiwi who has since returned home. Freelance journalist Erin Hale is based in Taiwan, but has spent time in Laos. She says that while there is a clinic in Vang Vieng, she does not think it is equipped to handle a case as ser...

By Maayan Lubell, Maya Gebeily and Laila Bassam, Reuters Israel mounted waves of airstrikes on Beirut. Photo: AFP Israel mounted waves of pounding airstrikes in Beirut on Wednesday as its security cabinet was due to discuss a ceasefire deal with its Hezbollah foes that could take effect as soon as Thursday. A senior Israeli official and Lebanese Foreign Minister Abdallah Bou Habib appeared optimistic a deal could be reached, clearing the way for an end to a conflict that has killed thousands of people since it was ignited by the Gaza war last year. Despite the possibility of an imminent diplomatic breakthrough, hostilities raged as Israel dramatically ramped up its campaign of air strikes in Beirut and other parts of Lebanon. A Hezbollah parliament member in Lebanon, Hassan Fadlallah...