world
NewsAustralian Associated PressBlast hits Ukrainian embassy in Spain
Ukraine has ramped up security at its embassies abroad after Spanish police and the government said an employee at the Ukrainian embassy in Madrid was injured opening a letter bomb.The staff member suffered light injuries and went to hospital by himself, police said in a statement.
NewsAustralian Associated PressAfghan school blast kills 15: reports
At least 15 people are dead after an explosion in the northern Afghan city of Aibak, according to media reports.Witnesses told broadcaster Tolonews that 27 others were injured.
NewsAustralian Associated PressChina ex-president Jiang Zemin dies at 96
Former Chinese president Jiang Zemin has died at the age of 96 of leukaemia and multiple organ failure, Chinese state media reports.Jiang died on Wednesday afternoon in his home city of Shanghai, the official Xinhua news agency said, publishing a letter to the Chinese people by the ruling Communist Party, parliament, Cabinet and the military announcing the death.
NewsAustralian Associated PressFour dead, dozens hurt in Pakistan blast
A Pakistani Taliban bomber has rammed a police escort for a polio vaccination team in southwestern Pakistan, killing four people and wounding more than 30, police say, just two days after the militants ended a ceasefire.The Tehreek-e-Taliban Pakistan (TTP) claimed responsibility for the attack near the city of Quetta, the provincial capital of Balochistan, in a statement received by Reuters.
BusinessAustralian Associated PressWorld stocks upbeat, focus to US Fed chief
World equity markets rallied on Wednesday and focus turned to Jerome Powell, who speaks later in the day in what will be the US Federal Reserve chief's last opportunity to steer sentiment ahead of the Fed's December meeting.A Santa rally appeared to come early for some markets, with Asian shares set for their strongest month since 1998 and emerging market stocks poised for their biggest monthly surge since 2009.
NewsAustralian Associated PressBodies-in-suitcases accused in NZ court
A woman who was extradited from South Korea this week after the bodies of her two children were found in abandoned suitcases has made her first court appearance in New Zealand.The 42-year-old has been charged with two counts of murder.
NewsAustralian Associated PressChina posts slight drop in new COVID cases
China has reported 37,828 new COVID-19 infections on November 29, of which 4288 were symptomatic and 33,540 were asymptomatic.That compares with 38,645 new cases a day earlier - 3624 symptomatic and 35,021 asymptomatic infections, which China counts separately.
PoliticsAustralian Associated PressUS Senate passes same-sex marriage bill
The US Senate has passed a bill that would protect federal recognition of same-sex marriage, a measure taken up in response to worries the Supreme Court could overturn a 2015 decision that legalised it nationwide.The narrowly tailored bill, which would require the federal government to recognise a marriage if it was legal in the state in which it was performed, is meant to be a backstop if the Supreme Court acted against same-sex marriage.
PoliticsAustralian Associated PressMcConnell pans Trump for dinner with bigot
The top two Republicans in the US Congress have broken their silence about former president Donald Trump's dinner last week with white supremacist Nick Fuentes, saying the Republican Party has no place for anti-Semitism or white supremacy.Senate Republican leader Mitch McConnell and Kevin McCarthy, who might become Speaker of the US House of Representatives when Republicans take control in January, had not commented previously on the November 22 meeting.
NewsAustralian Associated PressOath Keepers founder convicted of sedition
Oath Keepers founder Stewart Rhodes has been convicted of seditious conspiracy for a violent plot to overturn Democrat Joe Biden's presidential win, handing the US Justice Department a major victory in its massive prosecution of the January 6, 2021, insurrection.The verdicts against Rhodes and four co-defendants, after three days of deliberations by the jury, came in the highest-profile trial to emerge from the deadly assault on the US Capitol, with other high-profile trials due to begin next mo
NewsAustralian Associated PressMarin, Ardern talk democracy, trade in NZ
Finland leader Sanna Marin believes Nordic countries should develop tighter economic and diplomatic relations with Australia and New Zealand to ease trade and technological dependency on authoritarian states.The 37-year-old prime minister has landed in Auckland on a visit for the trans-Tasman nations this week, meeting with New Zealand prime minister Jacinda Ardern.
NewsAustralian Associated PressFrance rescues 61 migrants in channel
France has rescued 61 migrants including small children in the English Channel in one of the largest emergency operations in recent months as calm seas drew a rush of migrants in small boats toward the coast of Britain.Rescue workers in the port of Boulogne, where the migrants were brought ashore, said about 30 people had to be plucked out of the cold waters as they rushed to climb aboard a French rescue vessel from their rubber dinghy, which had been taking on water.
BusinessAustralian Associated PressTwitter ditches COVID-19 misinfo policy
Twitter has rolled back a policy that was aimed at tackling misinformation related to COVID-19 on the social media platform, lending itself to the risk of a potential surge in false claims even as cases rise in China and some parts of the world.The move also comes amid concerns of Twitter's ability to fight misinformation after it let go about half of its staff, including those involved in content moderation, under new boss Elon Musk.
NewsAustralian Associated PressUK COVID-19 lab errors linked to 20 deaths
England's government agency responsible for responding to public health emergencies says mistakes at a testing laboratory led to misreporting of tens of thousands of positive COVID-19 cases as negative and may have resulted in the deaths of about 20 people.The United Kingdom has one of the highest coronavirus death tolls in the world, with more than 177,000 deaths since the pandemic started in 2020.
NewsAustralian Associated PressCordingley death suspect faces India court
The Indian public prosecutor handling the case of a man accused of killing 24-year-old Australian Toyah Cordingley on a Queensland beach in 2018 says authorities will pursue extradition proceedings against him with "maximum speed".Delhi police arrested Rajwinder Singh, an Australian citizen of Indian origin, on the national capital's outskirts last Friday after the Queensland government announced earlier this month a record $1 million reward for his capture.
NewsAustralian Associated PressChinese spaceship docks with space station
Three Chinese astronauts have docked with their country's space station, where they will overlap for several days with the three-member crew already onboard and expand the facility to its maximum size.Docking with the Tiangong station came at 5.
NewsAustralian Associated PressNATO allies vow more help for Ukraine
NATO allies have promised more arms for Ukraine and equipment to help restore power supplies cut by Russian strikes, as President Volodymyr Zelenskiy says his forces were defending against attempted Russian advances in multiple regions.Ukraine's General Staff on Wednesday said its forces had repelled six Russian attacks in the past 24 hours in the eastern Donbas region, while Russian artillery had relentlessly shelled the right bank of the Dnipro River and Kherson city further south.
NewsAustralian Associated PressBrazil president-elect Lula backs Assange
Brazil's president-elect Luis Inacio Lula da Silva has stressed his ongoing support for the campaign to free WikiLeaks founder Julian Assange.Lula met Kristinn Hrafnsson, WikiLeaks' editor-in-chief, and Joseph Farrell, a WikiLeaks ambassador, in a private meeting in the capital Brasilia.
NewsAustralian Associated PressFour Palestinians dead in West Bank unrest
A Palestinian man has rammed his car into an Israeli soldier, seriously injuring her, before he was shot dead by Israeli police in the occupied West Bank.He was the fourth Palestinian killed in a series of violent incidents throughout Tuesday.
NewsAustralian Associated PressCOVID protests grow in China's Guangzhou
People in China's southern manufacturing hub of Guangzhou have clashed with white hazmat-suited riot police, videos on social media showed, as frustration with stringent COVID-19 rules three years into the pandemic boiled over.The clashes on Tuesday night marked an escalation from protests in the commercial hub of Shanghai, capital Beijing and other cities over the weekend in mainland China's biggest wave of civil disobedience since President Xi Jinping took power a decade ago.
NewsAustralian Associated PressNigeria rudder stowaways 'must return'
Three migrants rescued in Spain's Canary Islands, after apparently enduring an 11-day journey from Nigeria crouched on the rudder of a fuel tanker, should now be returned home under stowaway laws, a police spokesman says.In a photograph distributed on Twitter by the Spanish coast guard on Monday, the three stowaways are shown crouching on the rudder under the hull, just above the waterline of the Alithini II.
NewsAustralian Associated PressJet hits Wagner base in C African Republic
Authorities in the Central African Republic have opened an investigation after a low-flying fighter jet dropped explosives near a base for Russian mercenaries working with the country's military.The attack took place in the early hours of Monday at the Cotenaf base in Bossangoa, where witnesses said both the base used by Russia's Wagner Group and surrounding homes had been hit.
BusinessAustralian Associated PressStocks rise on China COVID-19 curb hopes
Stocks and oil gained on Tuesday on hopes that public unrest in China might prompt an earlier loosening of COVID-19 curbs in the world's biggest economy, with the yuan up and the dollar down as investor appetite for riskier assets grewThe Euro STOXX 600 gained 0.4 per cent, recovering from its worst session in almost two weeks a day earlier.
CelebrityAustralian Associated PressWales' visit puts royals in US spotlight
Prince William and his wife Kate are flying out to the United States for their first visit for eight years, as an intense media spotlight on the British royal family and the sons of King Charles shifts across the Atlantic.The new Prince and Princess of Wales' departure on Wednesday will mark their first overseas excursion since the death of Queen Elizabeth, which meant William - Charles's eldest son - became the heir to the throne.
NewsAustralian Associated PressS.Korea extradites murder suspect to NZ
South Korea has extradited a murder suspect to New Zealand, two months after she was arrested following the discovery of the bodies of two long-dead children in abandoned suitcases.New Zealand police said the woman arrived at Auckland Airport on Tuesday after they sent three officers to South Korea to bring her back.
