World News

Keeper Toody Scott feeds Cassius in this photo from 2011. Photo: Supplied / Marineland Melanesia A 5.48-metre Australian crocodile that held the world record as the largest crocodile in captivity has died, a wildlife sanctuary said on Saturday. He was thought to be more than 110 years old. Cassius, weighing in at more than one tonne, had been in declining health since 15 October, Marineland Melanesia Crocodile Habitat said on Facebook. "He was very old and believed to be living beyond the years of a wild Croc," according to a post by the organisation, based on Green Island near the Queensland tourist town of Cairns. "Cassius will be deeply missed, but our love and memories of him will remain in our hearts forever." The group's website said he had lived at the sanctuary since 1987 aft...

By Andrew Chung for Reuters People wait in line to vote on the last day of early voting at the High Museum of Art in Atlanta, Georgia. Photo: ELIJAH NOUVELAGE / AFP Following the 2020 election that he lost to Joe Biden, Donald Trump and his allies brought a storm of legal cases challenging the outcome. After losses in lower courts, some of these cases made their way to the US Supreme Court, whose conservative justices Trump was hoping would ultimately come through for him. They did not, as the court opted not to hear his appeals. The last three of these were rejected four months post election. For this year's election - with Trump now seeking to regain the presidency as the Republican candidate facing Democratic Vice President Kamala Harris - there may be a sense of déjà vu for the t...

New Zealand and Ireland have proposed a scientific panel be set up to examine the effects of a nuclear war. Photo: 123RF New Zealand and Ireland have proposed a scientific panel be set up to examine the effects of a nuclear war. In a statement delivered to the United Nations, Ireland's permanent representative Fergal Mythen said the last UN-mandated study was done in 1989. He said since then, scientific progress has advanced markedly - including climate and data modelling. Mythen said the 21 experts on the panel would focus on the physical effects and consequences to society of a nuclear war. He believed the study would also aid nuclear disarmament and arms control. The comments were posted on the New Zealand Ministry of Foreign Affairs and Trade website. In a statement, the UN said the...

By Jarrett Renshaw and Gram Slattery for Reuters Former US President and Republican presidential candidate Donald Trump gestures as he speaks at a campaign rally at the Fiserv Forum in Milwaukee, Wisconsin. Photo: KAMIL KRZACZYNSKI / AFP Democrats are readying a rapid-fire response to flood social media and the airwaves with calls for calm and patience with vote-counting should Donald Trump try to prematurely claim election victory, as he did in 2020, Harris campaign and party officials told Reuters. The Republican candidate told reporters this week that he hoped to be able to declare victory on Election Day, although election experts have cautioned that it could take several days for the final result to be known, especially if there are demands for vote recounts in some key areas. T...

LA rapper and artist Chali 2na Photo: Jorge Sevilla Rapper Chali 2na sits in his backyard in Los Angeles, smoking a joint and finishing a painting he has been working on for some time. He uses spray cans on the 2.4-metre wide, 1.2-metre tall canvas - a medium he has used to bring his vibrant creations to life since he was a kid. Born in 1971, just before the birth of hip hop, Chali 2na has witnessed its evolution firsthand. This year marks the 30th anniversary of Jurassic 5, the alternative hip hop collective that saw his bass-baritone voice rise to fame. The group's first single, 'Unified Rebelution', released in 1994, launched Chali 2na, Akil, Soup, Marc 7, DJ Nu-Mark, and turntablist Cut Chemist. This audio is not downloadable due to copyright restrictions. The group's 2000 al...

New Yorker Mark Longo said he rescued the animal after seeing its mother killed by a car. Photo: Screenshot / Instagram peanut_the_squirrel12 A squirrel named Peanut who was propelled to the heights of internet celebrity has been euthanised, New York authorities said on Friday, biting a government staffer on the way out. With 537,000 followers on Instagram, the domesticated black squirrel had fans around the world who delighted in his exploits, such as nibbling on waffles and doffing tiny costumes. New Yorker Mark Longo said he rescued the animal after seeing its mother killed by a car, going on to bottle feed the baby squirrel before attempting to release him into the wild. However, the animal lost part of its tail and returned to Longo, living with him for seven years and starring in ...

The Lincoln's withdrawal will create an aircraft carrier gap until another is cycled into the Middle East. Photo: AFP/Will Tyndall By Phil Stewart, Reuters The United States said on Friday it will deploy B-52 bombers, fighter jets, refuelling aircraft and Navy destroyers to the Middle East, in a readjustment of military assets as the Abraham Lincoln carrier strike group prepares to leave the region. The Pentagon said in a statement that deployments would take place in the coming months and demonstrated the flexibility of the US military movements around the world. "Should Iran, its partners, or its proxies use this moment to target American personnel or interests in the region, the United States will take every measure necessary to defend our people," Pentagon spokesperson Air Force Maj...

By Andy Sullivan and Susan Heavey for Reuters Donald Trump has criticised Cheney as a warmonger. Photo: AFP / Getty Images Arizona's top prosecutor, a Democrat, says her office is investigating whether Donald Trump violated state law for suggesting a prominent critic should face gunfire in combat. Trump has drawn outrage for comments he made about former lawmaker Liz Cheney at a campaign event in the battleground state of Arizona on Thursday (US time). His campaign said the former president was criticising Cheney as a warmonger, but critics condemned the remarks as evidence he would target his enemies if he wins next week's election against Democrat Kamala Harris. "She's a radical war hawk," Trump said of Cheney. "Let's put her with a rifle standing there, with nine barrels shooting ...

US presidential candidate Donald Trump has been labelled a "tyrant" for suggesting a former Republican politician should face a firing squad for her foreign policy stance. Trump called Liz Cheney - one of the highest-profile Republicans to turn against Trump and endorse his opponent, Democrat Kamala Harris - a "very dumb individual" and a "radical war hawk" at a campaign event in Arizona. "Let's put her with a rifle standing there with nine barrels shooting at her, OK? Let's see how she feels about it. You know, when the guns are trained to her face," he said. Cheney, the daughter of former Republican vice president Dick Cheney, said Trump's comment showed he was a "petty, vindictive, cruel, unstable man who wants to be a tyrant". "This is how dictators destroy free nations. They threaten ...

By Ashley Strickland, CNN NASA's Voyager 1 spacecraft is depicted in this artist's concept traveling through interstellar space, or the space between stars, which it entered in 2012. Photo: NASA/JPL-Caltech The 47-year-old Voyager 1 spacecraft is back in touch with NASA - but not out of the woods - after a technical issue caused a days-long communications blackout with the historic mission, which is billions of miles away in interstellar space. Voyager 1 is now using a radio transmitter it hasn't relied on since 1981 to stay in contact with its team on Earth while engineers work to understand what went wrong. As the spacecraft, launched in September 1977, ages, the team has slowly turned off components to conserve power, allowing Voyager 1 to send back unique science data from 15 bil...