World News

Photo: Screenshot/ Seven News A passenger on board an Air New Zealand flight at the centre of a bomb threat says they only found out when they saw a news broadcast about the plane they were sitting in. Australia's 9 News said flight NZ247 arrived from Wellington about 5.40pm local time (7.40pm NZT) on Saturday, with a tactical operations unit, paramedics and firefighters all called to the scene. The plane had 154 staff and passengers on board, the channel reported. Wellington's Penny Nel was on the flight, heading to Sydney to see her daughter and her husband - she had not seen them since before the Covid-19 pandemic began. "So it was an important and exciting trip," she told RNZ, and plain sailing until it landed in Sydney. "As we landed, we literally came to a stop and the pilot came o...

The members of crew of defender Emirates Team New Zealand celebrate beating Britain's Ineos Britannia and winning the Louis Vuitton 37th America's Cup Match, in Barcelona on October 19, 2024. Photo: LLUIS GENE / AFP 37th America's Cup Team New Zealand and INEOS Britannia Photo: Ricardo Pinto / America's Cup The jubilant crew of Emirates Team New Zealand sprayed each other with champagne after completing a commanding 7-2 victory over Ineos Britannia on Saturday to defend the America's Cup. The dominant Kiwis lifted the world's oldest international sporting trophy for the third consecutive time after beating their British opponents by 37 seconds in the ninth race off Barcelona to end the best-of-13 series. New Zealand raced into a 4-0 lead in the 37th edition of the competition befo...

By Elizabeth Wolfe, Ashley Killough, Ed Lavandera and Dakin Andone, CNN Robert Roberson was sentenced to death for the murder of his 2-year-old daughter, Nikki. Photo: The Innocence Project / Ilana Panich-Linsman Texas death row inmate Robert Roberson sat praying in a cell, just feet from the execution chamber where he was set to die by lethal injection for the "shaken baby" death of his toddler. While he prayed, the state and his advocates were fighting over his fate in a remarkable exchange of 11th-hour legal manoeuvres. Roberson's life was ultimately spared, for now, by the Texas Supreme Court, which issued a temporary stay of his execution shortly before his death warrant was set to expire at midnight. A new date must now be set for Roberson's execution, providing precious time f...

Charlotte and Ky greet King Charles III on the tarmac of Sydney Airport. Photo: AFP / Brook Mitchell Two young siblings who were involved in a bone marrow transplant have been granted an audience with King Charles III and Queen Camilla in Sydney. Adelaide boy Ky was diagnosed with a serious blood disorder in 2021, and his sister Charlotte ended up donating 1.6 litres of bone marrow. The meeting was organised by the Make-A-Wish Foundation. Two young siblings who were involved in a crucial bone marrow transplant have been granted a "once-in-a-lifetime" audience with King Charles III and Queen Camilla, who are in Australia for their first royal visit since the king's coronation. Adelaide boy Ky, who was diagnosed with a serious blood disorder three years ago, and sister Charlotte, who b...

American musician Prince on the cover of his 1993 album The Hits /The B-Sides Photo: Paisley Park; Warner Bros Who was the mysterious artist known, among other things, as Prince? Last year, an epic Netflix documentary was blocked by the late musician's estate for its too-negative take on this question. As a fan himself, Prince biographer Matt Thorne is "torn" about never getting to see the film and also sympathetic towards efforts to protect the musician's image. "There are fans who just want to see it because it's like, 'Great, nine hours of Prince.' There are fans who desperately don't want it to be released because they don't want the general public to have a negative view of Prince." In the meantime, he says, the wildly prolific songwriter revealed a lot about himself in his song ly...

By Alli Rosenbloom, Dan Heching and Sandra Gonzalez, CNN Liam Payne. Photo: Christopher Polk / Getty Images via AFP Warning: This story contains references to mental health issues and substance abuse As the reality of Liam Payne's death sets in, his family, friends and former One Direction bandmates are still trying to make sense of the devastating loss while authorities press forward in their investigation into the circumstances surrounding Payne's final moments and fatal fall. Payne died Wednesday after falling from the third floor of the CasaSur Palermo Hotel in Buenos Aires, Argentina. He was 31. His death remains under investigation Friday (local time) by local authorities, who are working to determine the nature of Payne's fall as more details begin to emerge. The public prosec...

US Vice President and Democratic presidential candidate Kamala Harris and former US President and Republican presidential candidate Donald Trump. Photo: DUSTIN FRANZ / AFP By Saul Loeb with Frankie Taggart, AFP Kamala Harris questioned Donald Trump's fitness for office Friday as the oldest major-party White House candidate in history faced speculation that he is "exhausted" after backing out of a spate of interviews. While he has been appearing on friendly TV networks, the 78-year-old Republican has cancelled sitdowns with media outlets including NBC, CNBC and CBS. He has also refused a second debate with Harris, after being soundly bested in the first. Politico reported that a Trump aide had told producers at a website negotiating an interview that the ex-president was "exhausted" and ...

A billboard depicting Hamas' slain leader Yahya Sinwar with the Arabic slogan "if Sinwar departs from the battlefields, Palestine will birth a thousand Sinwars", during a rally in Yemen's Houthi-controlled capital Sanaa on 18 October, 2024. Photo: MOHAMMED HUWAIS / AFP Hamas has vowed not to release the hostages seized during its 7 October attack on Israel until the Gaza war ends, as it mourned the death of its leader Yahya Sinwar. The killing of Sinwar, the mastermind of the deadliest attack in Israeli history, had raised hopes of a turning point in the war, including for families of the Israeli hostages and Gazans enduring a dire humanitarian crisis. But Qatar-based Hamas official Khalil al-Hayya, who mourned Sinwar in a video statement, reiterated the Palestinian group's position tha...

Ukraine's president Volodymyr Zelensky gives a press conference on the sideline of a EU summit in Brussels, on 17 October, 2024. Photo: LUDOVIC MARIN / AFP Russia and Ukraine have each swapped 95 prisoners of war in an agreement completed with the United Arab Emirates acting as mediator, the Russian Defence Ministry says. The ministry, in a post on the Telegram messaging app, said the returning Russian service members were undergoing medical checks in Belarus, one of Russia's closest allies in the more than two-and-a-half-year-old war. There was no immediate word of the exchange from Ukrainian authorities. Ukrainian news reports said the returnees included Ukrainian journalist and rights advocate Maksym Butkevych, convicted by a Russian court of shooting at Russian forces. The reports s...

No cause of death was given for either competitor (file image). Photo: 123RF By Sam Joseph, CNN Two athletes have died while participating at the World Triathlon Championships in Spain, the sport's governing body has confirmed. Both competitors - one from Mexico and one from Great Britain - were participating in the sprint category on the first day of competition at the Torremolinos-Andalucia Triathlon Championship Finals. "It is with deep sadness that we can inform that two participants (one from Mexico; one from Great Britain) have died at the World Triathlon Torremolinos-Andalucía AG Sprint Distance World Championships, taking place today, October 17," World Triathlon said in a statement. "Our deepest condolences go to their respective family, friends, National Federations and all th...