World News

By Felix Light and Lucy Papachristou, Reuters Georgian oligarch and founder of the ruling Georgian Dream party Bidzina Ivanishvili gives a speech during a gathering at the party's headquarters after exit polls were announced Photo: AFP / Giorgi Arjevanidze Georgian Dream party wins 54 percent of vote, electoral commission says Opposition parties reject results, citing violations Monitoring group reports incidents of ballot-stuffing, voter intimidation and bribery Georgia's ruling Georgian Dream party received more than 54 percent of the vote in a parliamentary election on Saturday, with more than 99 percent of precincts counted, the electoral commission said on Sunday. The result is a blow to pro-Western Georgians, who had cast the election as a choice between a ruling party that...

By Jonathan Landay, Reuters Fire erupts near Tel Aviv, Israel, following an Iranian missile attack on 1 October. Israel has been striking missile factories and other sites in western Iran in retaliation for the barrage. Photo: AHMAD GHARABLI/AFP One struck building was used in Iran's defunct nuclear weapons programme, researcher says Other buildings mixed fuel for Iranian missiles, researchers say Israel hit sites at Parchin and Khojir An American researcher said an Israeli airstrike on Saturday hit a building that was part of Iran's defunct nuclear weapons development programme, and he and another researcher said facilities used to mix solid fuel for missiles also were struck. The assessments based on commercial satellite imagery were reached separately by David Albright, a forme...

By Hadas Gold, CNN US media frequently announce formal endorsements of political candidates: The Washington Post's decision not to endorse a US presidential candidate, less than 2 weeks before the US election, has been divisive. Photo: Ajay Suresh/ Creative Common BY 2.0 One day after The Washington Post announced it would not endorse a presidential candidate in this year's election or in the future, its billionaire owner remains silent as the newspaper's staff are in turmoil. Jeff Bezos has so far declined to comment on the situation, even as his own paper's journalists reported that it was Bezos who ultimately spiked the planned endorsement. A source with knowledge told CNN on Friday that an endorsement of Vice President Kamala Harris had been drafted, before it was squashed. In th...

By Esther Taunton of Immigration New Zealand is assessing a visa application from controversial right-wing broadcaster Candace Owens. Photo: AFP/ Getty Images - Jason Davies Controversial right-wing broadcaster Candace Owens has applied for a visa to visit New Zealand for a speaking engagement next month. Owens has more than 18 million followers on social media and a history of making controversial claims, including doubting the holocaust was real. Her entry to Australia was recently blocked, with the country's immigration minister saying her narrative had "the capacity to incite discord in almost every direction." A controversial right-wing US broadcaster, whose entry to Australia was recently blocked, has applied for a New Zealand visa. Candace Owens has more th...

Elon Musk Photo: Screenshot / YouTube The Washington Post reported that South African-born billionaire businessman Elon Musk worked illegally in the United States during a brief period in the 1990s while building a startup company. The news outlet reported that Musk arrived in Palo Alto, California, in 1995 to attend Stanford University but never enrolled in his graduate studies program there. Instead, he developed software company Zip2, which sold in 1999 for around $300 million, according to the outlet. Two immigration law experts quoted by the Post said Musk would have needed to be enrolled in a full course of study in order to maintain a valid work authorisation as a student. Musk did not respond to requests for comment sent to four of his companies - SpaceX, Tesla, the social media...

By James Oliphant, Trevor Hunnicutt, Reuters Supporters of former US president Donald Trump arrive for a campaign rally in Novi, Michigan, on Saturday 26 October. Photo: AFP - Drew Angerer Trump appeals to Muslim voters in Michigan, pledges peace in the Middle East Obama joins Harris on stage with emphasis on abortion rights Michigan's early voting sees 19.5 percent turnout, mostly absentee ballots Republican Donald Trump appealed to Muslim voters in Michigan on Saturday local time as Michelle Obama made an impassioned plea on behalf of Kamala Harris at the Democrat's own rally in the battleground state. In Michigan, Harris and Trump are battling for voters that include an Arab American and Muslim population concerned about Israel's bombardment of Gaza, and union workers worried ab...

The International Space Station Photo: NASA A NASA astronaut who was hospitalised upon return from the International Space Station for an unspecified medical condition was released Saturday in "good health," the US space agency said. The four-member Crew-8 mission splashed down off the coast of Florida early Friday after nearly eight months aboard the orbital laboratory. NASA did not reveal which of the astronauts was hospitalised nor the reason, citing medical privacy. However, it said in a blog post that the crew member has returned to the Johnson Space Center in Houston "in good health and will resume normal post-flight reconditioning with other crew members." On its way back to Earth, the SpaceX Dragon executed a normal re-entry and splashdown, and recovery of the crew and spacecraf...

Australia's Queensland Liberal National Party leader David Crisafulli speaks on 27 October, 2021. Photo: Bradley Kanaris The conservative Liberal National Party in Australia's Queensland state was on track on Sunday to end almost a decade of centre-left Labor government, after a general election held on Saturday. Votes were still being counted on Sunday, but a partial count showed the Liberal National Party was polling well at a primary vote of 41.9 percent with the governing Labor Party on 32.8 percent, according to the Electoral Commission of Queensland. "Today Queenslanders voted for hope over fear, they have voted for a fresh start, and they have voted for a majority LNP (Liberal National Party) government," the party's leader David Crisafulli told supporters on Saturday night. Cris...

Former President Donald Trump speaks at a campaign appearance on 31 July, 2024 in Harrisburg, Pennsylvania. Photo: Spencer Platt / Getty Images / AFP By Kate Sullivan and Shania Shelton, CNN Former US President Donald Trump has said on Joe Rogan's podcast that he would be open to eliminating income taxes, while pushing his sweeping tariff proposal and praising the economic policies of the late 19th century. While talking about tariffs, Trump was asked by Rogan, "Did you just float out the idea of getting rid of income taxes and replacing it with tariffs?" "Well, OK," Trump said during the interview on The Joe Rogan Experience. Rogan asked, "Were you serious about that?" "Yeah, sure. Why not?" the former president responded. "Because, we, ready, our country was the richest in the, relati...

By Ramin Khanizadeh, AFP A general view of Tehran after several explosions were heard in Tehran on 26 October, 2024. Photo: AFP/Atta Kenare Iran warns it will defend itself after Israeli air strikes killed at least two soldiers and further stoked fears of a full-scale regional war in the Middle East. Israel warned Iran would "pay a heavy price" if it responded to the strikes, and the United States, Germany and Britain demanded Tehran not escalate the conflict further. US President Joe Biden said he hoped "this is the end" after the pre-dawn Israeli strikes, noting that "it looks like they didn't hit anything other than military targets". The European Union called for all parties to exercise utmost restraint to avoid an "uncontrollable escalation". Other countries, including many of I...