World News

By Kate Holton, Reuters Former United Kingdom deputy prime minister John Prescott. Photo: AFP Prescott was deputy PM for 10 years under Blair He survived punching a protester on campaign trail Blair, Keir Starmer and Al Gore lead tributes to "one-off" John Prescott, the pugnacious deputy prime minister to Britain's Tony Blair during his 10 years in government, has died aged 86 after a battle with Alzheimer's, his family said on Thursday (UK time). Prescott, who served under Blair from 1997 to 2007, was known as a plain-speaking politician who bridged the divide between the traditional left-wing and the modernisers in the Labour Party. "There was no one quite like him in British politics," Blair told BBC radio. "I don't think, to be honest, I'd ever met anyone quite like John, an...

By Anastasiia Malenko and Tom Balmforth, Reuters This picture taken on February 18, 2023 and released by North Korea's official Korean Central News Agency shows test-firing of an intercontinental ballistic missile (ICBM). Photo: AFP / Stringer Ukraine's air force says Russia fired ICBM Ukraine fired Western weapons into Russia this week Tensions rising after more than 1000 days of war Russia launched an intercontinental ballistic missile during an attack on Ukraine on Thursday (local time), Kyiv's air force said, in the first known use in the war of such a powerful, nuclear-capable weapon with a range of thousands of kilometres. The air force reported the launch after Ukraine fired U.S. and British missiles at targets inside Russia this week, despite warnings by Moscow that it wou...

Bianca Jones and a friend became critically ill after consuming drinks suspected to have been tainted by methanol at a bar in Vang Vieng. Photo: Facebook Melbourne teenager Bianca Jones has died in hospital in Thailand after drinking tainted alcohol during a backpacking holiday in Laos. Her death was confirmed by police in Thailand. Jones and her friend Holly Bowles became critically ill after consuming drinks suspected to have been tainted by methanol at a bar in Vang Vieng in Laos last Tuesday. Bowles was taken to a separate hospital in Bangkok. In a statement published by the Herald Sun newspaper, Jones's family said their "beloved daughter and sister" had passed away. "She was surrounded by love, and we are comforted by the knowledge that her incredible spirit touched so many lives ...

By Brian Fung for CNN The sale of Chrome could help prevent an illegal monopoly in web browsing, US government lawyers say. Photo: AFP / FILE The US government has formally proposed a partial breakup of Google, urging a federal judge to force a sale of the company's Chrome web browser after a landmark ruling this year finding that Google had violated US antitrust law with its search business. The request by the Justice Department and a group of states opens the door to the most significant antitrust penalties for a tech giant in a generation, targeting not only Google's illegal monopoly in search but also its growing ambitions in artificial intelligence. If approved, the penalties could revolutionise how millions of Americans search for information and potentially disrupt the tight i...

Italian visual artist Maurizio Cattelan's duct-taped Banana entitled "Comedian," is on display during a media preview at Sotheby's in New York, on 8 November, 2024. Photo: AFP / Ken Betancur A banana fixed to a wall with duct tape artwork has been auctioned off for about US$6.2 million (NZ$10.5m), about four times the initial estimate, at Sotheby's in New York. Seven bidders competed on Wednesday (New York time) to seize Italian artist Maurizio Cattelan's latest edition of his Comedian artwork, which was estimated to sell for up to US$1.5m. Chinese founder of cryptocurrency platform TRON Justin Sun. Photo: Supplied / Sotheby's That was already above and beyond the selling point of previous editions, which went for between US$120,000 and US$150,000, according to Perrotin gallery. C...

By Ramishah Maruf, CNN Billionaire Indian industrialist Gautam Adani has been charged with paying hundreds of millions of dollars of bribes and hiding the payments from investors, US prosecutors say. Photo: AFP / PUNIT PARANJPE Indian billionaire Gautam Adani and other executives have been indicted in New York for roles in a multi-billion-dollar fraud scheme, the US Department of Justice says. Authorities said Adani and seven other senior business executives, including his nephew Sagar Adani, promised more than US$250 million in bribes to Indian government officials to secure solar energy contracts. Those bribes were "to lie to investors and banks to raise billions of dollars, and to obstruct justice," said Deputy Assistant Attorney General Lisa Miller in a statement Wednesday. Worth...

Vang Vieng in Laos. Photo: CHAPUT FRANCK / HEMIS.FR / AFP The ABC understands a third person has died in Laos after drinking tainted alcohol, as two Australian teenagers continue to fight for their lives following the mass poisoning incident. Melbourne 19-year-olds Holly Bowles and Bianca Jones are critically ill after they drank alcohol suspected to have been tainted by methanol at a bar in Vang Vieng in Laos last Tuesday. Bowles and Jones are currently hospitalised in Thailand. On Thursday morning the US State Department said a US citizen had died in Vang Vieng. It is understood at least two Danish women in their 20s have died, with at least 10 people falling ill after drinking the alcohol. "We can confirm the death of a US citizen in Vang Vieng, Laos," the US State Department said. "...

File photo. Jacinda Ardern pictured on 2023. Photo: AFP Former Prime Minister Dame Jacinda Ardern is to be given a global leadership award by the United Nations Foundation. The annual awards, We The Peoples, recognise "extraordinary individuals and organizations whose work embodies the values and purposes of the UN". Ardern will be given the champion for global change award. The citation said it recognised her trailblazing and empathetic leadership, her commitment to championing the rights of women, combatting climate change and fostering of unity and peace. Last month, Ardern recieved her damehood from Prince William in a ceremony in the UK. Previous recipients of the champion for global change award included UN deputy secretary-general Amina J. Mohammed, Barbados prime minister Mia Am...

By David Weber, ABC Photo: WA District Court Warning: This story contains details that some readers may find distressing. The parents of a malnourished Perth teenager who doctors warned would die without urgent medical intervention have been found guilty of starving her. The parents were accused of failing to provide adequate nutrition to their 16-year-old daughter who only weighed 27 kilograms in 2021. They've each been found guilty of engaging in conduct that caused their child to suffer, by failing to provide adequate nutrition. They've also each been found guilty of a second charge, relating to their failure to provide emotional, social and functional development. The father earlier pleaded guilty to forging his daughter's birth certificate to make her appear younger than she re...

By Kristen Holmes, Kaitlan Collins and John Towfighi, CNN Linda McMahon, former administrator of Small Business Administration, speaks at the Republican National Convention at the Fiserv Forum in Milwaukee on 18 July. Photo: Brian Snyder/Reuters via CNN Newsource President-elect Donald Trump has named his transition co-chair Linda McMahon as his pick to serve as the next secretary of the Department of Education. The decision, which Trump announced Tuesday night confirming CNN's earlier reporting, took shape after it became clear that McMahon would be passed over for Commerce secretary. Trump named his other transition co-chair, Howard Lutnick, as his pick to lead the Commerce Department earlier Tuesday after the Cantor Fitzgerald chief executive had thrown his name into the mix for T...