Saturday, March 7

World News

Four bodies recovered from capsized tourist boat off Egypt’s Red Sea coast
World News

Four bodies recovered from capsized tourist boat off Egypt’s Red Sea coast

Rescue workers help tourists and crew members after a diving boat capsized in the Red Sea off Egypt's coast. Photo: AFP / Red Sea governor's office Four bodies were recovered on Tuesday from a tourist boat which capsized off Egypt's Red Sea coast, and rescue teams were still searching for seven missing people, the Red Sea Governorate said in a statement. Provincial governor Amr Hanafi said rescue teams had found five people alive on Tuesday, two Belgian tourists, one Swiss, one Finn and an Egyptian, bringing the total number of survivors to 33. The boat, the Sea Story, capsized on Monday near the Sataya Reef while carrying 31 tourists and 13 crew on a multi-day diving trip. It was struck by high waves and sank in five to seven minutes. Twenty-eight people were rescued with minor injurie...
Ceasefire begins in Israel-Hezbollah war
World News

Ceasefire begins in Israel-Hezbollah war

By Laure Al Khoury, AFP US President Joe Biden speaks about a ceasefire between Israel and Hezbollah in Lebanon, in the Rose Garden of the White House on November 26, 2024, in Washington, DC. Photo: AFP / SAUL LOEB A ceasefire between Israel and Hezbollah in Lebanon took effect on Wednesday after more than a year of fighting that has killed thousands of people. The truce, which began at 4am (0200 GMT), should bring to a halt a war that has forced tens of thousands of people in Israel and hundreds of thousands more in Lebanon to flee their homes. The Israeli army warned soon after the ceasefire began that residents of south Lebanon should not approach Israel Defense Forces positions and villages its forces had ordered to be evacuated. "With the entry into force of the ceasefire agree...
Why movies like Catwoman and the original Dune flopped at the box office
World News

Why movies like Catwoman and the original Dune flopped at the box office

Kyle MacLachlan as Paul Atreides in David Lynch's Dune (1984), based on the novel by Frank Herbert. Photo: Universal - Dino De Laurentiis C / Collection ChristopheL via AFP Dune, based on the 1965 novel of the same name by Frank Herbert, raked in a combined US$355 million with its recent two-part rendition by Denis Villeneuve - but an earlier version in 1984 flopped badly at the box office. Daily Telegraph film critic Tim Robey delves into why 26 films, like Rex Harrison's Doctor Dolittle (1967) and Catwoman (2004), didn't make waves financially in his latest book Box Office Poison: Hollywood's Story in a Century of Flops. The earlier version of Dune was made by David Lynch, who went on to famously direct Blue Velvet, and was riding high on the success of his 1980 film The Elephant Man,...
Police officer Kristian White found guilty of manslaughter after tasering 95yo Clare Nowland
World News

Police officer Kristian White found guilty of manslaughter after tasering 95yo Clare Nowland

By Adriane Reardon for ABC Clare Nowland, who had symptoms of dementia, was tasered by Senior Constable Kristian White. Photo: A police officer who tasered a 95-year-old woman in her New South Wales aged care home has been found guilty of manslaughter. Kristian White, 34, discharged his taser at Clare Nowland in a nurses' room at Yallambee Lodge, Cooma on May 17, 2023. White and another officer responded to a triple-0 call made by staff as the great-grandmother roamed the facility in her walker while holding a steak knife. Nowland, who suffered symptoms of dementia, fell and hit her head after she was tasered and died a week later in Cooma Hospital from an inoperable brain bleed. A 12-person jury delivered its judgement on the fifth day of deliberation in the NSW Supreme Court in Sy...
World’s oldest man, John Tinniswood, dies aged 112
World News

World’s oldest man, John Tinniswood, dies aged 112

By Jack Guy, CNN Tinniswood described how he managed to live for so long as pure luck. Photo: Guinness World Records John Tinniswood, the world's oldest man, dies at the age of 112. Tinniswood died on Monday at a care home in Southport, England, according to a news release from Guinness World Records (GWR) on Tuesday. "His last day was surrounded by music and love," his family told GWR in a statement, according to the release. Born 26 August 1912, Tinniswood had held the record for the world's oldest living man since April 2024, following the death of 114-year-old Juan Vicente Pérez of Venezuela. Tinniswood didn't have any particular explanation for how he managed to live for so long, describing it as "pure luck," according to GWR. "You either live long or you live short, and you can...
Kiwi killed in South Africa robbery remembered as ‘one-of-a-kind person’
World News

Kiwi killed in South Africa robbery remembered as ‘one-of-a-kind person’

Eugene Robbemond. Photo: Facebook The Whanganui motor sport community is paying tribute to Eugene Robbemond who, according to media reports, has been killed during a robbery in South Africa. Local media outlet The Daily Voice reported a man was trying to stop a robbery in Monte Vista and shot dead. Police spokesman Malcolm Pojie confirmed to The Daily Voice the man was 49-years-old and died around 1.30pm on Friday on Mostert Street in Monte Vista. "We have reason to believe that it was a bank-following-robbery as the motive, even though the suspects fled the scene without any loot," the outlet reported Pojie as saying. "The vehicles of the suspects were traced and recovered in a parking lot in Parow." The Daily Voice reported the dead man's parents were the intended victims of the robbe...
What’s going on with all the celebrity lookalike contests?
World News

What’s going on with all the celebrity lookalike contests?

Timothee Chalamet, Paul Mescal, Dev Patel and Jason Momoa - do you look like someone famous? Photo: Liam Swiggs In late October, amidst the tensions of a looming election, the world witnessed the birth of a new kind of democratic event - the celebrity lookalike contest. It all began with the Timothee Chalamet event in New York, when a bunch of mop-haired, square-jawed lookalikes descended upon Washington Square Park, all for a small trophy, a $50 cash prize, and the knowledge they (vaguely) resemble a Hollywood star. The contest was a raging success; hundreds of onlookers stopped by, there were four arrests, and Chalamet himself even turned up to meet his doppelgangers. And since then, dozens of copycat lookalike contests have popped up around the world. In Dublin, mulleted men in short...
India officials probe Google Maps after three deaths
World News

India officials probe Google Maps after three deaths

The driver followed Google Maps into taking the route, according to the Hindustan Times. Photo: Nikolas Kokovlis / NurPhoto via AFP Google said on Tuesday it was assisting Indian authorities probing the deaths of three men who reportedly drove off an incomplete bridge while following a route on Google Maps. The group was on their way to a wedding in northern India's Uttar Pradesh state when their car plunged into the Ramganga river from the unfinished bridge early on Sunday. The driver followed Google Maps into taking the route, the Hindustan Times newspaper said on Tuesday, quoting police officials. Police questioned an unnamed official from the navigation app, as well as others from the government public works department, the Press Trust of India news agency also reported. "Our deepes...
Rakon in the red amid global slowdown in rollout of 5G
World News

Rakon in the red amid global slowdown in rollout of 5G

Rakon's revenue has been hit hard, offsetting gains made in the aerospace and defence markets. Photo: 123RF Semiconductor chipmaker Rakon has plunged into the red amid a global slowdown in the rollout of 5G networks. Key numbers for the six months ended September compared with a year ago: Net loss $10.4m vs $0.5m profit Revenue $41.7m vs $61.3m Underlying loss $7.3m vs $5.3m profit No dividend Chief executive Sinan Altug said the half-year period was "exceptionally tough", particularly in the telecommunications and positioning markets. "These markets continued to be affected by macroeconomic conditions that slowed investments in 5G mobile networks globally, and extended timeframes for customer inventory normalisation across both markets," he said. The company's revenue was also hit sh...
Donald Trump vows massive tariff rises on goods from Mexico, Canada and China
World News

Donald Trump vows massive tariff rises on goods from Mexico, Canada and China

By David Goldman, CNN File photo. Donald Trump promised massive hikes in tariffs on goods from Mexico, Canada and China starting on the first day of his administration. Photo: CHIP SOMODEVILLA / Getty Images via AFP Incoming US president Donald Trump promised massive hikes in tariffs on goods coming from Mexico, Canada and China starting on the first day of his administration, a policy that could sharply increase costs for American businesses and consumers. The move, Trump said, will be in retaliation for illegal immigration and "crime and drugs" coming across the border. "On January 20th, as one of my many first Executive Orders, I will sign all necessary documents to charge Mexico and Canada a 25 percent Tariff on ALL products coming into the United States, and its ridiculous Open...