Wednesday, March 4

World News

‘Central Park Five’ members sue Trump for defamation after debate comments
World News

‘Central Park Five’ members sue Trump for defamation after debate comments

Activist Korey Wise (C) speaks on stage as representatives from the Central Park Five, (L-R) Activist Kevin Richardson, New York City Council Member Dr. Yusef Salaam, and Activist Raymond Santana, along with Rev. Al Sharpton (2nd-R) look on during the final day of the Democratic National Convention at the United Center on 22 August, 2024, in Chicago, Illinois. Photo: ANDREW HARNIK / AFP By Devan Cole, CNN Members of the 'Central Park Five' sued former President Donald Trump on Monday over "false and defamatory" statements they allege he made about their 1989 case during a presidential debate last month. The five men claim in a federal lawsuit that Trump knew he was acting with "reckless disregard" for the truth when he said during the September debate with Vice President Kamala Harris t...
Kamala Harris, Donald Trump in dead heat across swing states in Washington Post poll
World News

Kamala Harris, Donald Trump in dead heat across swing states in Washington Post poll

Vice President Kamala Harris and former President Donald Trump. Photo: DUSTIN FRANZ / AFP Vice President Kamala Harris and former President Donald Trump remain in a tight contest across seven battleground states with just over two weeks until the 5 November US presidential election, a Washington Post/Schar School opinion poll showed on Monday. Democratic former prosecutor Harris led among likely voters in Georgia 51 percent to 47 percent, while Republican Trump was slightly ahead in Arizona with 49 percent to 46 percent. Both findings fell within the plus or minus 4.5 percentage points margin of error in the poll, which surveyed 5016 registered voters from 30 September to 15 October. Harris, who became the party's candidate after President Joe Biden stepped aside in July, also had an ed...
Israel intensifies offensive in Gaza, Lebanon after Hamas leader’s death
World News

Israel intensifies offensive in Gaza, Lebanon after Hamas leader’s death

By Amina Ismail and Nidal al-Mughrabi, Reuters Palestinians inspect the damage after an Israeli airstrike in Beit Lahia. Photo: ISLAM AHMED/AFP Israel said it hit Hezbollah's intelligence headquarters in its latest strikes on the Lebanese capital Beirut, while officials in Gaza said rescuers were still recovering people from the rubble after an Israeli strike that killed dozens. At least 87 people were dead or missing following the air strike on Beit Lahiya in northern Gaza late on Sunday, the health ministry in the Palestinian territory said, one of the highest death tolls for months from a single attack. Israel said it was investigating reports of the incident. It marked an intensification of Israel's offensives against Palestinian militant group Hamas in Gaza and Iran-backed Hezbo...
Millions face third day without power in Cuba as Hurricane Oscar nears
World News

Millions face third day without power in Cuba as Hurricane Oscar nears

By Patrick Oppmann, CNN Satellite image shows hurricane Oscar approaching the east of Cuba, 20 October, 2024. Photo: AFP Millions of Cubans remained without power for a third day in a row after fresh attempts to restore electricity failed overnight. The Cuban Electrical Union said just 16 percent of the country had had power restored when the aging energy grid again overloaded late Saturday (local time). Officials did not provide an update on when service would be reestablished. This marks the third full collapse of Cuba's energy grid since Friday, and most in the 10 million-strong country have had their access to power interrupted the whole time. Recovery efforts will be complicated further by the arrival of Hurricane Oscar in eastern Cuba, which is expected to bring heavy winds and...
King Charles heckled by lawmaker at Australian parliament
World News

King Charles heckled by lawmaker at Australian parliament

Australian Senator Lydia Thorpe approaches King Charles in Canberra. Photo: Screenshot / Twitter Indigenous senator Lidia Thorpe shouted anti-colonial slogans at King Charles during his visit to the Australian parliament on Monday, shocking assembled lawmakers and other dignitaries. "Give us our land back! Give us what you stole from us!" Thorpe screamed in an almost minute-long diatribe, after the 75-year-old king's speech. "This is not your land, you are not my king," the independent lawmaker said, decrying what she described as a "genocide" of Indigenous Australians by European settlers. Australia was a British colony for more than 100 years, during which time thousands of Aboriginal Australians were killed and entire communities displaced. The country gained de facto independence in...
Liam Payne fans gather in great crowds to pay tribute in London’s Hyde Park
World News

Liam Payne fans gather in great crowds to pay tribute in London’s Hyde Park

By Sara Smart and Alli Rosenbloom, CNN Fans of former One Direction singer Liam Payne gather with balloons and flowers beside the Peter Pan statue in Kensington Gardens, adjacent to Hyde Park for a memorial. Photo: JUSTIN TALLIS/AFP London's Hyde Park was one of the several sites around the world this weekend for an outpouring of love, grief and recollection in honour of Liam Payne, the former One Direction boy band member who tragically fell to his death at a hotel in Buenos Aires last week at the age of 31. Crowds gathered near the park's Peter Pan statue, where they placed handwritten letters, teddy bears, balloons, photos and flowers, according to photos shared from the memorial. The scene created what looked like a scrapbook of both the singer's life and the fans whose lives he ...
Cher, Mary J. Blige, Ozzy Osbourne among Rock Hall of Fame inductees
World News

Cher, Mary J. Blige, Ozzy Osbourne among Rock Hall of Fame inductees

Cher, Mary J. Blige and Ozzy Osbourne were among this year's Rock and Roll Hall of Fame inductees Photo: AFP Cher, Mary J. Blige and Ozzy Osbourne were among this year's Rock and Roll Hall of Fame inductees, formally introduced on Saturday at a concert gala. Kool & the Gang, Dave Matthews Band, Foreigner, A Tribe Called Quest, and Peter Frampton were also among the 2024 class of honourees, artists honoured at the ceremony held in Cleveland, Ohio. Big Mama Thornton, Alexis Korner and John Mayall received special honours for "musical influence," Jimmy Buffett, MC5, Dionne Warwick and Norman Whitfield received awards for "musical excellence." Suzanne de Passe, a trailblazer for women executives in the music business, who was big in Motown, won the night's award for non-performing indus...
Prague bans late-night bar crawl ban to deter ‘drunk’ tourists
World News

Prague bans late-night bar crawl ban to deter ‘drunk’ tourists

By Francesca Street, CNN Prague, a city as famous for its beer as its historic architecture, is set to ban late-night bar crawls, seeking to end its reputation as a party destination. The Czech capital of Prague. Photo: Julius Silver, Pixabay The Czech capital is the latest European tourism hot spot pushing back on crowds, amid concerns about the impact on locals' quality of life. Prague's deputy mayor, Jiri Pospisil, said the city wants to discourage tourists who come "for a short time only to get drunk" in favor of "a more cultured, wealthier tourist," according to the AFP news agency. Over the past two decades, partly thanks to the boom in budget airlines, Prague has become a go-to destination for bachelor and bachelorette parties, particularly from the UK. The news, announced on ...
Focus on America’s Cup future as New Zealand rule the waves
World News

Focus on America’s Cup future as New Zealand rule the waves

By Alexander Smith Team New Zealand celebrate winning the final race as they claim the 37th America's Cup. Photo: America's Cup/ Ricardo Pinto No sooner had New Zealand crossed the finish line to win the 37th America's Cup off Barcelona at the weekend than the focus moved to what the next one will look like The beaten British, who had not competed in the final for some 60 years and have never won the event, immediately handed New Zealand a notice to become the "challenger of record", meaning they will now negotiate key aspects of the 38th America's Cup. Grant Dalton, an America's Cup veteran who has now led what some say is the "complete team" to three consecutive wins, joked when accepting the trophy that the last time he did so he was back at his desk the next morning plotting the ...
Dunedin Airport’s three-minute hug limit makes global headlines
World News

Dunedin Airport’s three-minute hug limit makes global headlines

Photo: Facebook Dunedin Airport has gone viral and made global headlines after introducing a three minute time limit on hugs. The time limit in the airport's free drop-off zone was about improving traffic flow and safety around the terminal. Anyone wanting a longer farewell would have to find a spot in the carpark. Dunedin Airport chief executive Dan De Bono spoke to RNZ's Checkpoint programme earlier this month and confessed he was "a hugger". They were trying to have a bit of fun with the announcement, he said. "It's caused quite a stir, we've got quite a bit of conversation going." CNN included it in its weekly travel newsletter under the headline "Catch flights, not feelings". The New York Post went with the "inhumane" angle, while the Times of India said the "quirky rule" had "spar...